Civil servants defy Government directive

The PSC went on a witch-hunting exercise to identify civil servants who participated in the strike. It sent a circular dated 7 February to provincial education directors requiring them to order school heads to list details of all teachers who participated in the strike with the intention of charging them.
The circular requires one to state full names of the worker, the ministry they fall under, department, station, employment code number, designation, dates when they went on strike and names of the head of station.
The names were supposed to be handed to the Chief Provincial Inspector’s Office on Friday last week prior to being sent to the PSC.
Matabeleland North provincial education director, Mrs Boithatelo Mnguni, said she had not received the list from the school heads in the province.
“I have not yet received the list from the school heads. Maybe they will bring them around payday,” said Mrs Mnguni.
The Matabeleland South provincial education director, Mrs Tumisang Thabela, said she had not seen any list from the school heads in her province since she left her office last week.
“I have not been in the office for the last two days and when I left, I had not seen anything. I would be able to give you that information tomorrow,” said Mrs Thabela.
The Bulawayo provincial education director, Mr Dan Moyo, could not be reached for comment yesterday, although sources confirmed that school heads did not send the lists to his office.
“The school heads in Bulawayo did not send the lists of teachers who were on strike because most of them actually took part in the strike. I’m not sure about other provinces, but in Bulawayo no name has been sent to the provincial office so far,” said a senior teacher from a local school who preferred anonymity.
The Apex Council, the umbrella body of the civil servants, has vowed to protect its members from the exercise.
In an interview yesterday, Apex Council president Mrs Tendai Chikowore said although she had not seen the official circular, the Apex Council was prepared to protect its members by all means.
“I have not seen the circular from the PSC, but my office has received one case in Marondera, where a headmaster of a certain school has summoned 31 teachers to write reports in respect of the strike. We are sending our legal officer to the school to solve the issue,” said Mrs Chikowore.
“However, the intimidation that is taking place among civil servants will not be accepted and we will appeal and protect our members by all means.”
Mrs Chikowore said the Apex Council was ready to face the consequences and would find a way of presenting its case, and make sure that no civil servant is affected by any form of action taken by PSC.