TEACHERS started receiving their 13th cheque as promised by the government yesterday, almost two months after expecting their bonuses.
Senior Reporter
In a snap survey, several teachers said they were in high spirits following the government’s fulfilment of its promise, as they had feared that their employer would backtrack on the pledge.
Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) chief executive officer, Sifiso Ndlovu yesterday confirmed that their members — who constitute the bulk of the civil service — had started receiving bonuses.
“Although I haven’t talked to many of our members, I am reliably informed that some have already received their bonuses, while some banks have confirmed the payments,” he said.
Ndlovu called for more dialogue between the government and teachers, as the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC), which was formulated when former Labour minister Nicholas Goche was still in office, is yet to have a proper meeting.
“There was activity, which would have paved way for negotiations on the outstanding issues, but to date, nothing has happened,” he said.
Ndlovu added that the NJNC needed to appoint a chairperson and the government team leader was yet to be appointed.
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This follows former team leader Maxwell Ranga’s offer of an ambassadorial role and the resignation of NJNC chairperson Nelson Sambureni.
Ndlovu said they would also need to attend to the issue of collective bargaining, which he said needed to be embedded in the labour law reforms.
The government is in the process of aligning a raft of laws with the new Constitution and coming up with new labour laws.
Teachers had earlier threatened to go on industrial action if the government had failed to fulfill its pledge on bonuses, but received assurance from Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister Prisca Mupfumira that they would receive bonuses.
Zimta national secretary-general John Mulilo recently expressed concern over the breakown of the civil service bargaining process and failure to convene the NJNC meetings since June 2014.
