Improve conditions of service for civil servants

counterparts. Actually, the UK government paid its workers a premium of about £4 000 relative to what the private sector paid. Also, while civil servants in that country are guaranteed a pension, private sector workers aren’t, which is a plus for the public service.
In 2010, US civil servants earned more than double their private sector counterparts. By then, federal workers had been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine successive years. Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123 049 in 2009 while private workers made $61 051 in total compensation.
By August that year, federal compensation had grown 36,9 percent since 2000 after adjusting for inflation, compared with 8,8 percent for private workers.
Closer home, Kenyan civil servants earned better pay than their private sector counterparts in 2010. This, however, was not a standard situation as is the case in many western countries since it only marked the biggest labour market shift in more than three decades in the east African economy. Nonetheless, analysts projected that the shift would continue in that way.
The situation is almost the same with Botswana.
We appreciate that a high salary is not the be-all and end-all of human existence. At the same time, we appreciate that it is indeed a vital factor.
In Zimbabwe, particularly over the past 10 years, being a civil servant has, in some quarters, actually become a kind of embarrassment, given the inferior average salaries and working conditions they get.
A public sector teacher with a degree or college diploma and decades of experience earns around $360 monthly whereas some security guards earn a starting salary of up to $400. Quantitatively a teacher earns less than a security guard. The gap gets wider if one considers that a teacher has a superior education to a guard’s. A guard undergoes training for a mere two weeks to secure a job and a more decent wage. He gets a job also simply because he is tall, strong and can run fast.
Civil servants’ salaries cry for improvement, urgently. There are a number of ways to achieve this. The Government needs to pay higher salaries that recognise the skills, experience and social value of its workers as obtains in many jurisdictions.
Yet another, which is quite pivotal, is to offer better conditions of service. The recent announcement that the Government would this year spend $25 million financing civil servants’ housing projects across the country is among them. As the Government continues to explore and implement measures to attract and retain staff, this intervention has potential to perform wonders.
Director of Housing in the Ministry of Housing and Social Amenities, Mr Special Sibanda said $13 million has been set aside for housing projects and another $12 million for individual housing loans for public sector workers. He said flats would be constructed in Bulawayo, Gwanda, Beitbridge, Lupane, Chinhoyi, Gweru, Mutare, Bindura and Masvingo. More than 2 000 civil servants benefited last year, he said.
The Government recognises, as much as we do, that the funding is inadequate to house all civil servants who are not home-owners but it is pleasing that there is work towards that end. A worker who owns a home tends to be more satisfied and emotionally at peace than one who doesn’t. Instead of paying money for rent, that money, or even less would be channelled towards servicing the loan. We expect that civil servants would afford repaying their housing loans despite their lower salaries as public sector finance is often cheaper than that accessed from private enterprise.
Going forward, it is important to stress the importance of transparency in the disbursement and repayment of the loans. Corruption and poor loan repayment have undone many well-meaning government initiatives before. The hope and prayer is that this fund would be handled professionally and transparently for its noble objectives to be achieved.
Mr Sibanda observes that civil servants are free to borrow anything between $1 000 and $5 000. The range is still on the lower side if one wants to put up a decent family home. It is an encouraging start, but the maximum available must be increased as time goes on to enable borrowers to build bigger homes in better residential areas.
But the benefits of such an initiative will not be enjoyed by civil servants and their families only, but also the country at large. Recurrent public sector strikes and general restlessness could be curbed or minimised if working conditions are improved through, among other efforts, viable housing loan schemes. In the end, the public sector would stabilise and public sector stability is key to national development.