Museum workers strike over salaries

Midlands Correspondent
WORKERS at the National Museums and National Monuments in the Midlands Province yesterday went on strike in protest over non-payment of salaries. The employees from various monuments in the province yesterday spent the greater part of the day gathered at their provincial offices at the Military Museums in Gweru.

When Chronicle visited the Military Museums yesterday, the employees were getting into the boardroom for a meeting with the management.

Police officers were manning the premises, monitoring the situation.
Some of the employees who spoke to Chronicle said they had not been getting their salaries since November last year.

They said they were the only group of civil servants who failed to get their bonuses last year. “We only started facing challenges in getting our pay when the Department of Museums and National Monuments stopped our salaries to come through the Salary Services Bureau (SSB). Who ever came up with that idea is corrupt. The department started facing accusations of including ghost workers on the salary bill which was being sent to the parent ministry, that of Home Affairs,” said another employee.

The employees said management was withdrawing funds from Treasury as a lump sum before depositing it as salaries into individual bank accounts. They said the arrangement was very suspicious.

“Someone is benefiting here. Why did they stop our salaries from coming through SSB? We are not getting proper pay slips and when we try to buy furniture on hire purchase or open accounts we face problems because the pay slips are mere bond papers,” said another employee.

They said landlords were now threatening to evict them as they have not paid their rentals for the past two months.
“My maid has since left because I was now failing to pay her. My landlord has also given me a notice of eviction because I have not been paying my rentals for some time now,” said another employee.

An official at the Zimbabwe Military Museums declined to comment and referred this reporter to the human resources manager, a Matsvaiva in Harare.

Matsvaiva also declined to comment when contacted yesterday. “Whoever gave you my number made a mistake. I am sorry I cannot comment,” he said.