Civil servants back strike action during Harare rally

By Lance Guma
05 February 2010

Angry civil servants in the capital on Friday used a rally in the Harare Gardens to give their backing to industrial action meant to force the government to improve their wages. Union leaders announced the breakdown of talks with the government on Tuesday and said they would use rallies in Harare and Bulawayo to gauge from their members what action to take.

Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa reports that over 4000 civil servants turned up for the Harare rally and angrily told union leaders that they were already ‘technically’ on strike having left their work places to be at the rally. Government through Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro moved swiftly to arrange an afternoon meeting at which it was reported they would make an improved wage offer.

Newsreel spoke to Oswald Madziva the spokesman for the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and he told us government was showing no urgency in addressing their plight. Civil servants are demanding US$630 which they say is a reasonable ‘living wage,’ and have reacted angrily to government claims that it is broke. Madziva said the secrecy surrounding the revenue from Zimbabwe’s controversial diamonds had removed any sympathy they might have had for the government.

Sources who spoke to Newsreel said different civil service unions were itching for different timetables on which to begin their strike. One union has already privately told its members they will strike on Tuesday next week, while some unions wanted the strike to begin immediately. Muchemwa told us at one point during the rally it looked like the civil servants were forcing reluctant union leaders to call the strike. This was after the leaders said they were still to take part in more meetings before making a final decision.

Madziva meanwhile told us it was clear from government’s last budget that external funding was going to be the key issue in the country’s recovery. He said the coalition government itself was beset by problems including the ‘misbehaviour of one of the partners (ZANU PF) in the coalition, and this was discouraging any external funding.’ He also criticised the Presidential Scholarship fund for ‘wasting’ US$9000 per student to fund over 4000 students to study outside the country instead of using the resources locally.