Government employees under the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) allege they have been barred from complaining about poor working conditions while their bosses enjoy perks.
The workers have also accused JSC secretary Walter Chikwana and senior magistrates of ignoring their concerns and threatening them with dismissal if they complain about the labour injustices.
Magistrates and other senior managers were reportedly awarded a US$150 allowance recently while the support staff was sidelined.
Speaking to NewsDay on Monday, Chikwana, however, dismissed the workers’ allegations. He said:
There is nothing like that happening at the JSC. It is not possible for someone to be earning merely just ZiG10 or ZiG12.
Look, all civil servants get their salaries from the Salary Service Bureau (SSB), it is across the board. There is no way the government would neglect JSC workers.
It is a lie that the chief magistrate’s department civil litigants cannot access their records without an email address.
Records are still being accessed manually because we have not yet installed the Electronic Case Management System at the magistrates court.
The JSC workers insist they have not been receiving payslips for the past three months and that some employees were paid around US$250 and around ZiG500.
In an open letter seeking authorities’ intervention, JSC workers claim that some of them took home ZiG10 or ZiG12. Part of the letter reads:
About two years ago when SSB requested grades so that it could adjust salary payments, JSC only submitted those of magistrates, while the rest of the staff was left out.
Which is why in general, JSC staff is paid lower than any other government workers save for magistrates and a select few at the secretariat.
They encouraged us to form a union, but as soon as that was done and the process was gathering momentum, those that were at the forefront found themselves being victimised, facing charges and being transferred.
More: Pindula News