The Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (ZCPSTU), formerly the Civil Service Apex Council, has demanded an apology from the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, George Guvamatanga for his recent remarks on civil servants’ pre-October 2018 salaries.
Addressing the media alongside treasury boss Mthuli Ncube on Monday, Guvamatanga claimed that civil servants never earned US$540 as of pre-October 2018.
ZCPSTU on Wednesday said they were “disturbed” by the comments and demanded that Guvamatanga apologise. The union said:
We are disturbed by the misleading utterances by the Finance Secretary. He referred to the official exchange rate of 2.5, of which, if he was in the country at that material time, he would know there was only one currency, the USD.
It is our contention that the secretary misinformed the nation and would do well to honourably apologise.
ZCPSTU has also rejected the 100% salary increment by the government to be effected on 1 July 2022, calling it “a non-event”.
Civil servants and government representatives met almost a fortnight ago under the National Joint Negotiating Committee (NJNC) to deliberate on civil servants’ salaries and conditions of service.
The meeting ended in a deadlock after civil servants rejected a 100 per cent salary hike and instead demanded the restoration of their pre-October 2018 salaries. ZCPSTU said:
The much-touted ZWL Cost of Living Adjustment to be effected on July 1, 2022, was flatly rejected by the workers at the last NJNC meeting of June 17, 2022, and therefore is a non-event.
At that said NJNC, we advised the government not to bring to the bargaining table a ZWL offer for obvious reasons.