Zimbabwean workers say the bonus euphoria associated with the festive season has gradually dissipated due to years of economic hardships that have pushed the majority of citizens into poverty.
Traditionally, the month of December was famous for bonus payments to civil servants and private sector workers as employers appreciated their hard work throughout the year.
The month of December witnessed massive shopping for groceries, alcoholic beverages and household property such as electric gadgets and furniture as workers enjoyed the 13th cheque.
This has largely become a thing of the past as most families are struggling to put basic foodstuffs on the table.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) secretary-general Japhet Moyo told The NewsHawks that the old days of unbridled merrymaking after bonuses are over. Said Moyo:
The old days of merrymaking are gone because the resources are becoming very scarce.
Not everyone has the thirteenth cheque and for those lucky enough to get it, is not even adequate to push them to January. The thirteenth cheque of nothing is just nothing.
The business community doubled the prices of goods and services to wipe out the little that they had paid out as salaries and bonuses.
Takavafira Zhou, the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president, said:
The salaries are pathetic. Far less than the PDL (poverty datum line) and workers are living from hand to mouth and scavenging for survival.
Schools have increased school fees for 2024 and many parents are in a dilemma over how they will get such exorbitant amounts ranging between US$500 to US$1 600 for boarding schools between now and January.
The economy is also in shambles and our currency is easily erodible and difficult to guarantee a decent life.
Zimbabwe Urban Council Workers’ Union (ZUCWU) national secretary-general Kudakwashe Munengiwa said:
The issue of payment of bonuses for 2023 has become a mirage. It’s meaningless to workers.
The 13th cheque, as the bonus is known, is meant to appreciate workers for the hard work they would have put into their various organisations throughout the ensuing 12 months.
But what we see now in this country is that the payment of this 13th cheque, particularly in the public and private sectors, has become meaningless because it is consumed by accumulating debts.
It is also affected by the prospects of January school fees and various other expenses. So the bonus has become meaningless. So you will see that there was no pomp and fanfare.
What must be done is to restore salaries to the pre-November 2017 figures where civil servants used to earn US$540 while local authority minimum-paid workers got US$400. Unless and until that happens, the 13th cheque will not be the answer.
Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe president Obert Masaraure told The NewsHawks that life has been hard for teachers since the November 2017 military coup. He said:
The Second Republic robbed civil servants of the Christmas cheer. Teachers are saddled with debts and are having sleepless nights planning for 2024 back to school.
The 100% bonus of a depressed income doesn’t give civil servants and other workers enough financial legroom to afford festivities.
The festival season is for the looters who are politically exposed. We call upon the hangman of the workers, Mthuli Ncube, to review salaries upwards, to a minimum of US$1 260 in January 2024.
In 2023, the Government paid bonuses staggered over two months, but the amounts received were not significant enough for civil servants to splash the cash.
Moreover, most private companies are strugglings and some of them failed to pay December salaries, let alone annual bonuses.
More: Pindula News