Govt working on additional pay package for civil servants

Source: Govt working on additional pay package for civil servants | Herald (Top Stories)

Professor Mthuli Ncube

There is scope within the current national budget to further increase salaries for public workers on top of the 100 percent increment that was announced last week, an official has said.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said talks between the government and civil servants representatives were going on to thrash out additional reviews of salaries and conditions of service.

“Just recently, the government announced that civil servants’ basic salaries have been increased by 100 percent with effect from 1 July, 2022, and that negotiations are continuing through the National Joint Negotiating Council platform to come up with additional salary and condition of service reviews,” he told a press briefing.

“We are continuing our discussions with civil servants and to hear their concerns to see where there is any flexibility at all to increase their salaries in Zimbabwe dollars or United States dollars.”

Ncube said the US$175 component of the civil servants salary would continue into the foreseeable future.

On the other hand, Ncube said the government would also avail non-cash benefits to all civil servants including through a housing loan guarantee scheme, civil service housing loan scheme and access to the duty-free importation of a single motor vehicle.

He said the government had reviewed upwards the Health Sector Specific Allowances which include on-call allowances, which apply to doctors and laboratory scientists, and night duty, stand-by or callout allowances, which apply to nurses, nurse aides and general hands in theatre.

Other health sector allowances reviewed include the nurse managers allowances and Covid-19 and infectious disease risk allowances.

In the education sector, the payment of performance awards which had been withheld due to financial constraints, have been restored and these would now be processed effective 1 July, 2022.

Ncube said at least 34 000 housing units within and outside school premises would be constructed for teachers over a period of five years.

The government was also paying school fees for up to three biological children per teaching family, he said.

“This benefit applies to teachers and payment will be made directly to schools and will be up to a prescribed limit per biological child.

Currently this limit is ZWL20 000 per child per term and the Treasury is ready to disburse the required amounts for the first term.”

In the security sector, Ncube said the government had introduced the military salary concept and its equivalent across the security cluster, covering various categories of benefits.

He said the government was also instituting immediate measures to increase access to institutional housing and transportation for serving members of the security services.

For Parliamentarians, Ncube said the government had recently introduced a constituency visit allowance to improve relations between elected officials and their constituents.

“Fuel is provided to members in all constituencies irrespective of the distance to their constituencies from the capital city,” he said. –New Ziana

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