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The Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) on Tuesday gave government a 48-hour ultimatum to pay teachers whose salaries were suspended last July after they were found absent at their work stations by government auditors who conducted a head account last April. Zimta president Richard Gundane said government was flouting teachers’ rights by denying them salaries for a problem which was not theirs. The government last July suspended salaries for about 3,000 civil servants who were absent from their work stations during the audit and most of them were teachers. Gundane said the process of reinstating the de-registered teachers was taking very long and the teachers were now into their third month without salaries. “Zimta is alarmed and seriously agitated by the levels of inefficiency and lack of professionalism being exhibited by the Civil Service Commission, Public Service, Labour and Social Services Ministry and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in addressing the issue of de-registration of the teachers from the payroll,” said Gundane.
He said there seem to be no urgency on part of the concerned government arms to address the plight of teachers who returned to work on Tuesday when schools opened. Gundane said teachers could not continue to be punished as a result of inefficient and bureaucratic procedures between ministries. The government’s decision to conduct an audit of its workers was meant to rid the Public Service of ghost workers so the move is highly commendable. The audit indeed unmasked ghost workers and also revealed the duplication of school headmasters and deputies that is costing government about $1,2 million annually.
The audit also established that school development associations have been employing their own teachers without following proper procedures and almost 7,000 teachers were employed this way. After suspending salaries of workers that were not found at their workstation by the audit teams, government directed the affected workers to submit affidavits signed by their respective heads of department detailing their whereabouts at the time of the audit.
Some of the affected teachers according to Zimta were on study leave, maternity leave and other official assignments. Some of those affected, according to reports, are civil servants who were conducting the audit as they were also found absent from their work stations. The delay in reinstating bona fide civil servants is a cause for concern.
It boggles the mind why a simple exercise of verifying reports from heads of department of the affected workers should take more than two months. It is a fact that the level of salaries for most civil servants are just enough to take one to the next pay day so suspending salary payment for two months is just too long.
The non-payment of salaries has caused untold suffering to the affected workers and their families who have no money to pay even for basics such as food, rent, busfare and school fees. We totally agree with Zimta that this exercise has exposed the government departments’ high degree of inefficiency which cannot be tolerated.
We want to implore the two ministries as well as the CSC to urgently address the plight of the affected workers who should be paid their salaries as soon as possible. These workers cannot wait for the end of the month to receive their salaries but a special arrangement should be made to pay them as soon as possible. The affected teachers’ morale is obviously at its lowest ebb and the situation should be rectified as soon as possible before it impacts on their performance.
We want to once again call on the government to ensure that mistakes such as the de-registration of bona fide civil servants are rectified in the shortest possible time to minimise prejudice to affected employees.
Online Reporter