Bonus for civil servants

Addressing a 2013 pre-budget con­sultative meeting here yesterday, the minister said the Government was committed to rewarding its workers.

Minister Biti triggered panic recently when he said civil servants bonuses were in doubt this year owing to depressed revenue inflows,
The confirmation came after partic­ipants at the meeting pressurised the minister to clarify his position on bonuses.

Mpilo Central Hospital clinical director Dr Wedu Ndebele said uncer­tainty over bonuses was demoralising health workers.
In response, Minister Biti insisted that revenue inflows to Treasury were inadequate, but bonuses would still be paid.

“Payment of bonuses to our civil servants is guaranteed.
“We will pay them as usual, but as we did last year, the payment will be staggered.

“However, you have to understand that it is not easy. Our revenue inflows are not good and the budget is under­performing, which is why we had to cut recurrent expenditures from min­istries.”
There are about 235 000 civil ser­vants in the country who usually get their bonuses between November and December annually.
Minister Biti’s earlier statement that the bonuses were in doubt had angered civil servants who accused him of taking them for granted.

The workers said their bonuses were not negotiable and challenged the Government to use every means to ensure the money was available.
Minister Biti defended the recruit­ment freeze on ministries, but said essential services such as education and health would be considered on special arrangements.
He said Treasury was under pres­sure as it was struggling to pay service providers.
“As we speak, the Government is sit­ting on $350 million in arrears to serv­ice providers such as fertiliser and seed companies who are owed about US$40 million.

“We owe US$30 million to Zesa, another US$30 million to mobile providers, more than US$40 million in unpaid rates to local authorities and US$20 million to Zinwa.
“We have accumulated a budget deficit and we are already eating into the future,” said Minister Biti.
The minister described Govern­ment’s failure to service its debts                 as an economic “tsunami” that was going to create a deadlock in the future.

He said the development was affect­ing the performance of parastatals, local authorities and other key sec-tors.
Minister Biti said as a result, Gov­ernment was facing problems in pay­ing its dues to Zimra and NSSA.
Poor performance of key economic fundamentals has already seen Minis­ter Biti revising this year’s economic growth rate from 9,4 percent to 5,6 percent.

The budget was also reduced from US$4 billion to US$3,6 billion.
Due to the tight financial situation, Treasury has said it will be more aggressive to get revenue by directing Government departments receiving revenue which is lying idle to remit it to the fiscal authorities.

Minister Biti said his ministry has engaged South Africa and Angola for lines of credit they pledged and expressed optimism that the Interna­tional Monetary Fund would soon open doors to lines of credit to Zim­babwe.