The Chronicle
Chronicle Reporter
20 January 2010
The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart will today meet the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, to discuss the burning issue of teachers’ salaries.
Minister Coltart last week promised to table the issue of teachers’ salaries before Cabinet, which was expected to resume sitting yesterday.
However, Cabinet did not sit and according to Minister Coltart, its first meeting this year will be sometime in February.
This means that the first meeting of the Cabinet falls beyond the 14-day ultimatum that civil servants gave the Government on Wednesday to intervene on the issue of salaries.
Speaking in a telephone interview from Harare yesterday, Minister Coltart said he would discuss with Minister Biti grievances that were presented to him in a meeting with leaders of teachers’ associations on Thursday.
“I will discuss with Minister Biti the grievances that the leaders of the teachers’ associations presented to me regarding their salaries last Thursday,†he said.
Contacted for comment, the Apex Council chairperson, who is also the president of the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta), Mrs Tendai Chikowore, said they were still waiting for formal communication from Minister Coltart.
“I can not say what form of action we will take now because we have not heard anything from the Minister. We deal with official communication so until he convenes a meeting with us I can not comment,†she said.
Mrs Chikowore, however, said nothing had changed since civil servants gave the Government a 14-day ultimatum to address their grievances.
“After 14 days we will go back to the people to discuss the way forward,†she said.
This was after negotiations between the Government and the civil servants’ representatives ended in a stalemate on Tuesday.
The unions rejected US$236 per month offered by the Government for the highest paid civil servant and US$124 for the lowest paid.
The workers want their salaries to be raised to at least US$600 a month.
Teachers and the majority of civil servants are earning between US$155 and US$180 depending on one’s grade.
In a joint statement, the Apex Council, a body that includes Zimta, Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and the Public Service Association (PSA), said what the Government was offering was too little.