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salary increment this month.

President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara met last Friday and agreed that civil servants should have their salaries raised this month.
Civil servants take home an average of between US$150 and US$200 per month, way below the poverty datum line estimated at US$502.

Minister Biti has been refusing to increase civil servants’ salaries arguing that Treasury had no money.
This is despite reports that the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority exceeded its target by 11 percent when it collected revenue amounting to US$618, 9million in the first quarter of this year.
It also emerged that Treasury officials have advised the Public Service Commission that it was feasible to increase civil servants’ salaries to a certain level.

Sources close to the meeting said it was agreed that PM Tsvangirai and DPM Mutambara would summon Minister Biti to whip him into line.
The Minister has of late been digging in, claiming that there was no fiscal space to award any increment.

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The principals’ meeting was a follow up to an earlier Cabinet meeting where the issue of salaries for civil servants was discussed.
In Cabinet, it is said Public Service Minister Professor Eliphas Mukonoweshuro threatened to resign if Minister Biti did not increase the salaries.

The sources said Treasury officials had indicated to the PSC that they could manage an increase in salaries to a certain level, a report that riled Minister Biti, who is now reportedly at odds with his officials.
“It’s quite clear people are losing patience with the Minister of Finance who thinks he is stronger and above the Government as a collection. He is not just against the President who met the civil servants but also against the PM who was also calling for a salary raise for civil servants,” said a source close to the meeting.

“If (Minister) Biti does not relent, other instruments would be invoked to ensure compliance with Government position. Here he is being given a last chance.”
The Secretary for Media, Information and Publicity, Mr George Charamba confirmed the meeting of the principals but declined to give details.
“Yes the principals met last Friday and I can confirm that what was uppermost in their minds was the salaries of civil servants,” said Mr Charamba who is also President Muga-be’s spokesperson.

He said the principals’ meeting was held soon after the National Security Council meeting, dismissing claims in certain sections of the media that civil servants’ salaries were discussed during the NSC meeting.
“While The Standard (weekly newspaper) have had the correct direction on the preoccupation of the principals, it’s not true that it was done by the National Security Council. It did not deal with that matter, in any case the Government has already taken a decision. The meeting of the principals was meant to break that inertia,” he said.

Mr Charamba dismissed media reports claiming that Minister Biti had confronted the President.
The media reports had alleged that Mr Biti had confronted the President over remarks he made in Mutare castigating the Finance Minister for his failure to address the plight of civil servants.

“Either someone is grandstanding or is being fictitious. No such matter arose in the National Security Council, which anywhere does not discuss interpersonal matters. I doubt very much whether Minister Biti would even have the courage required for such a confrontation. In any case the President, who is senior, was on very firm ground on the issues that he raised,” he said.
Another source close to the goings-on said Minister Biti is the one who has been resisting increasing civil servants salaries for reasons best known to him.

“Everyone, including the PM, is in agreement that civil servants salaries should be increased but Minister Biti has been resisting every attempt in that direction.
“He is refusing to increase these salaries because he wants to dance to the whims of the International Monetary Fund so that he can win awards like the best Finance Minister for perpetrating his people’s poverty,” said the source.

Meanwhile Apex chairperson, Mrs Tendai Chikowore yesterday said civil servants continue to wait for Government feedback of how much they should expect.
The leader of Apex, which groups civil servants representatives, urged their members to remain at work while negotiations were underway.

“We will be patient with Government because they have told us that negotiations are taking place. Our members will remain at work until we get a feedback from Government on what they have.
“There is no doubt we will be getting an increment the only concern is we don’t know the quantum yet. We can’t lose hope after we have been promised by the Head of State (President Mugabe),” Mrs Chikowore said.

On calls for a strike by the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Mrs Chikowore said: “While they (PTUZ) are autonomous, it would have been proper if they consulted.”