Senior Reporter
The Government will continue reviewing salaries for civil servants and staff at other State agencies and commissions in line with economic developments, Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube said yesterday.
Government yesterday doubled the salaries of civil servants, and those in the security sector, the legislature, the judiciary, grant-aided entities and independent commissions, effective July 1 including implementation of other non-monetary benefits.
Prof Ncube commended staff for their commitment to duty.
Negotiations are still continuing through the National Joint Negotiating Committee to see what more can be done with additional reviews of salary and conditions of service.
"The Government of Zimbabwe reiterates its commitment to pay competitive remuneration to civil servants in order to retain critical skills and derive efficient public services. Accordingly, Government will continue to analyse conditions of service for all civil servants in order to appropriately and timeously benchmark these in line with economic developments," he said.
Apart from the 100 percent increment on the Zimbabwe dollar salary component, Prof Ncube said Government would continue paying the US$100 cushioning allowance and the US$75 Covid-19 allowance for the foreseeable future while other non-monetary benefits would be implemented.
Prof Ncube said Government had introduced non-monetary benefits for civil servants with some being sector specific.
Generally, all civil servants now enjoy a housing loan guarantee scheme, a civil service housing loan scheme, and access to the duty-free car import scheme.
With particular regard to the health services, Government has reviewed upwards several allowances: on call allowances, which apply to doctors and laboratory scientists; night duty, stand by and callout allowances, which apply to nurses, nurse aides and general hands in theatre; nurse managers' allowances; special health equalisation factor which applies to all eligible staff; Covid-19 and infectious disease risk allowances.
In addition, Government has reviewed the non-monetary benefits for the health sector including: provision of institutional housing for health workers starting with Harare and Bulawayo; addressing deficiencies in the cafeteria system and re-operationalising the system; and local production and sourcing of uniforms for health personnel.
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For teachers, Government has restored the advancement awards, payment for performance awards which had been withheld will now be processed effective July 1, payment of school fees for up to three biological children up to a maximum of $20 000 per child and provision of 34 000 flats or houses as institutional accommodation for teachers.
To cushion teachers from the rising cost of accommodation, Government has committed to providing 34 000 flats and houses both within and outside school premises over five years.
"Government has introduced a military salary concept and its equivalent, across the security cluster, covering various categories of benefits. In addition, Government has accelerated the acquisition of operational vehicles for middle management," he said.
Prof Ncube said Government was also instituting immediate measures to increase access to institutional housing and transport for serving members of the security services including access to the housing loan guarantee scheme.
Parliamentarians and staff of Parliament have had reviews implemented across both salary and non-cash benefits as follows: Salaries have been at least doubled with effect from July 1, with sitting allowances similarly increased.
Government has also introduced a contributory medical scheme where Government will contribute 80 percent of the subscriptions, similar to the scheme which is in place for civil servants, while a constituency visit allowance has been introduced for Parliamentarians.
