Soldiers, police officers, teachers and other civil servants in Zimbabwe appear to have been taken for a ride by the Public Service Commission (PSC) as it has begun to emerge that “hefty” salaries they were recently promised may have been just a mirage.
Irate soldiers, teachers and other civil servants called The Standard newspaper last week to blast the government for making what they called empty promises.
PSC chairperson Mariyawanda Nzuwah — flanked by army commander General Constantine Chiwenga and police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri — recently announced that the lowest grades among teachers would be paid Z$33-million a month, while the lowest-paid soldiers would receive Z$27-million a month.
A few days later, Nzuwah told The Sunday Mail that top-performing civil servants and members of the uniformed forces would receive more money.
He said there would be additional incentives, which would see a rural teacher receiving a total package of Z$36,5-million while their graduate counterparts would gross Z$39-million.
However, when the salary schedules were released last week, the civil servants and the uniformed officers were shocked to see that the figures had been inflated.
For example, a teacher will this month receive a basic salary of Z$21Â 071Â 048 instead of the promised Z$36,5-million a month. Additional transport and housing allowance bring the figure to Z$30Â 912Â 629.
The highest-paid non-graduate teacher in grade C3 will receive gross Z$32Â 597Â 079.
A teacher who has all along been dreaming of grossing almost Z$37-million told The Standard: “It appears we were conned. The government should have announced percentage increments but because they knew they had something to hide, they just started confusing everybody with figures.”
It appears to be the same story for soldiers.
While government had said those in the lowest ranks of the army would receive Z$27,2-million, senior army officers told their juniors that they will get Z$21-million.
A private who spoke to The Standard on Friday said: “Yes, that is what we were told. It’s depressing.”
He said there was widespread disgruntlement in the camps following the revelations that they would not get the promised Z$27,2-million. Other soldiers who spoke to The Standard said they were angry at what they termed deceptive behaviour by the PSC.
Said one soldier: “As far as we were made to understand, the gross salary for the lowest-paid soldier would be Z$27-million, but according to the new payment schedules, the gross is Z$21-million. I don’t know why they announced things they knew were not true.”
There are reports that some landlords have started hiking their rentals after hearing that the civil servants’ salaries were increased by 300%. The government is believed to have hastily announced salary increments for civil servants amid fears that they could join any opposition-led demonstrations against the government.
Raymond Majongwe, secretary general of the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, said the wrong impression has been created over the increments.
“It must be clearly stated that there is a difference between a salary and an allowance. You cannot group salaries and allowances and then assign a percentage increase. As we speak, many teachers are being congratulated by people who believe that their salaries are out of this world.
“Rentals are beginning to go up; shops have increased their prices in anticipation of the ‘hefty’ salaries. By the time teachers receive their May salaries, inflation would have eroded them,” Majongwe said. — The Standard