GOVERNMENT has extended an equivalent of US$500 as funeral assistance for its underpaid civil servants who would have passed on.
The offer, which was confirmed by both Information
secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana and Labour minister Paul Mavima, was approved by
Cabinet yesterday.
“Starting immediately, the government will pay an
equivalent of US$500 in funeral assistance for any civil servant who passes
away,” Mangwana tweeted.
“This is regardless of any funeral policy the member may
have. The money is paid to a surviving spouse, adult children or agreed
dependant.”
Civil servants have been battling to secure a living wage
from their employer with not much success, forcing teachers, nurses and doctors
to down tools.
Teachers, who are demanding at least US$520 per month, are
currently earning an equivalent of US$40.
Asked to clarify Mangwana’s claims, Mavima said: “If it was
talking about people who have died in the line of duty, maybe due to COVID-19
being compensated through the surviving family, it is a completely different
framework from the continuous improvement on the working conditions of the rest
of the civil servants.
“If we are talking about how many people have died due to
COVID-19, we are talking of just a few people, we are talking about once-off
payments, we are talking about in addition to what they normally get, which is
pensions of those people.”
He added: “Someone who has died in the line of duty, and we
are just increasing the benefits because in this particular case there is a
pandemic and people need to be compensated. We have even compensated people who
have just contracted COVID-19 and I think it’s proper.”
However, civil servants said though the gesture was noble,
the employer should focus on paying at least a US$520 salary to the living.
The Apex Council, an umbrella body for all civil servants
unions, said the US$500 funeral assistance offer was an open admission by
government that its workers deserved to be paid in a more stable currency.
“No one can fault that, it is a good thing especially in
times of bereavement, it is really welcome,” Apex Council spokesperson David
Dzatsunga said.
“The fact that they are doing that makes them realise we
need US dollars to get a decent burial, maybe they should also know that a US
dollar salary, therefore, is important to get a decent living and they should
start paying in US dollars.”
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira
Zhou said the move was “madness”.
“That is madness at its worst. We do not want people who
praise us when we are dead. We want to be recognised in our existence. We have
families, we are family people, we need to find decent accommodation and not
coming when you are dead to say he was our worker,” Zhou said.
“We don’t want people who speechify over our bodies. We
want assistance from the government right now. It is unfair labour practice
that an employer has a paternalistic aspect to think that they give us
donations. We want a product of collective bargaining and discussion.”
Government also approved plans to increase fees and sitting
allowances for non-executive directors at State enterprises and parastatals
most of which are bleeding the economy.
Addressing a post-Cabinet media briefing, Information
minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the allowances were last reviewed last year.
“Cabinet considered and approved a proposal to review
upwards the board fees and sitting allowances of non-executive directors of
State enterprises and parastatals. Fees and allowances were last reviewed in
October 2019,” she said.
The review of the board fees come at a time government is
struggling to keep most of the loss-making parastatals afloat.
The parastatals are also struggling to pay salaries and
some have approached government for bailout.
Finance minister Mthuli Ncube, while acknowledging that
some of the parastatals were limping, said the review would take that into
account.
“I don’t have the exact figures of how much increases will
be effected, but I can share the modalities, which are those managing
loss-making entities will get less increases, while those managing
profit-making entities will get more,” Ncube said. Newsday
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