HARARE – Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said on Monday that the government was ready to raise public sector salaries for the second time in three months and that it would meet public sector unions on Tuesday for wage talks.
Last month, the largest labour group the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) threatened protests over the government’s decision to ban the use of foreign currencies and make the interim RTGS currency the sole legal tender.
Zimbabweans are angry as year-on-year inflation of around 100 percent has eaten the value of their wages and savings, recalling the horrors of the hyperinflation era in 2008.
Zimbabwe is grappling with a severe shortage of U.S. dollars, fuel, bread, medicines and 17-hour daily power cuts, which have forced businesses to use expensive diesel generators.
Currency reforms introduced last month to ban the use of foreign currencies and make the interim RTGS currency the sole legal tender have done little to instil confidence that people’s living standards will improve soon under President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“I have a (wage increase) figure already, and I’m just waiting to hear from the unions. We will be meeting them tomorrow to hear their figures,” Ncube told a meeting with local businesses in Harare.
Ncube said the government’s budget was in surplus for the first six months of the year.
The lowest paid public sector worker earns ZW$430 (US$49.54), which unions say has been hit by inflation of 97.85 percent in May. A union official said a meeting would be held later on Monday to agree a position that they will present to the government on Tuesday.
The ZCTU threatened “mass action” last month after the government made the RTGS the sole legal tender and renamed it the Zimbabwe dollar.
At least three people have gone to court to challenge the government’s move but Ncube said he was “very prepared for the fight” in court.- Reuters
