( 3 minutes)
· The Zimbabwean government, despite its huge financial woes,
has agreed to increase the salaries of its civil servants with
immediate effect.
· The provisional agreement between the government and the
public employees’ union facts in an increase of 140 per cent salary
increase.
The Zimbabwean government, despite its huge financial woes, hasagreed
to increase the salaries of its civil servants with immediate effect.
The agreement reached with the government provides for an increase of
salary linked to cost of living, which will become effective from 1
January 2020.
The salary hike has become imperative on account of the high decibel
demand for the civil servants complaining that their purchasing power
was eroded by creeping inflation. They also held several
demonstrations and work strikes to amplify their long pending demand.
The provisional agreement between the government and the public
employees’ union provides for an increase of 140 per cent salary
increase. Zimbabwean economy is passing through a difficult trajectory
for the last two decades or so, mostly due to corrupt practices of the
successive governments. There are shortages of all types of goods
including food materials. The foreign exchange situation is so
precarious that the country cannot import such goods from other
countries. Consistently, the country has been increasing the fuel
prices, which have led to discontentment among the general public.
Repeated power cuts and incessant droughts have had their toll on the
fragile economy of the southern African country. Zimbabwean President
Emmerson Mnangagwa had made promises to revive the economy, but those
are still remaining in the paper due mainly to the corrupt practices
of his predecessor Robert Mugabe and his family members.
Since seizing power in a 2017 through a bloodless coup from his
onetime mentor late Robert G. Mugabe, Mnangagwa had gradually
consolidated his power riding on the back of people’s ire towards
Mugabe, who alleged to have embezzled huge resources through corrupt
practices and stashed away in tax havens during his 37 years of his
misrule. Mnangagwa also has his critics, who blame him for subverting
a constitutional government during 21 months at the helm.
