ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe’s Public Servants have been told their annual bonus will be paid in the next few days.
Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube (pictured) made the pledge, which is a departure from recent years, when economic difficulties forced the payments to be staggered, with some not paid until the middle of the following year.
However, Professor Ncube said this year’s bonus would be based on basic salary only, excluding housing and transport allowances that had been included in previous calculations.
Presenting the 2019 National Budget in Parliament, the Minister said the Government appreciated the hard work rendered by its employees and recognised the bonus, known as the “thirteenth cheque”, was an integral component of the remuneration framework.
Professor Ncube noted this was a time when Government employees were facing a number of hardships.
After the sugar coating came the bitter pill.
Professor Ncube said as part of its restructuring program, the Government would retire all remaining 2,917 youth officers and their posts would be removed by the end of the year.
He said next year, PS staff would go through a biometric registration program in an effort to weed out ghost workers.
“This system will ensure that every person being paid by Government for services rendered is properly accounted for,” Professor Ncube said.
“Previous Civil Service audits undertaken by Government in 2011 and 2015 point to the possible existence of ghost workers in the Service, who are contributing to the burgeoning Public Service wage bill, which accounts for over 90 per cent of total revenues.”
He said registration would be rigorous and would involve capturing data on letters of appointment, academic and professional qualifications, national identification documents, employment code numbers and biometric data.
Harare, 24 November 2018
