A couple of months ago Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube promised civil servants that their salaries would be reviewed on a regular basis. Civil servant salaries were supposed to be reviewed this month but it seems that is yet to happen as most civil servants have reported that they are yet to see a change in their salaries. The Apex Council, the top body that represents all government workers has bemoaned the development and has warned that civil servants are suffering.

We had hoped that the finance minister would honour his promise to review our salaries this September. But, with no increment, it’s now very difficult for us to make ends meet.

We are just wondering how on earth we are supposed to manage fees, day to day life and be able to go to work

Now that the majority of the civil servants have received their salaries and there is no increment it shows that we were given a basket to carry water. This is utter lack of respect to all the government workers as we were planning in line with the increment

David Dzatsunga, the secretary general of the Apex Council

A number of civil servants have expressed disappointment with their current earnings with some receiving payments of as little as $42 250 (officially about US$70). Some civil servants said they were expecting to receive at least double that after the government had effected its promised salary increase but were left hanging with their current salary.

The government and civil servants have been embroiled in a nasty salary dispute for years. While the government under Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has claimed they are paying as much as they can civil servants have often downed tools claiming they are incapacitated. Civil servants have demanded that the government pay them the equivalent of what they earned back in 2018 before the 1 as to 1 regime was scrapped. Back then salaries hovered around the US$500 mark. Currently civil servants earn about US$200.