Centre News Hub
Harare-Firebrand teachers representative body, the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) has petitioned Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, for failing his promise to review civil servant salaries this year.
Ncube made the promise during the 2026 budget presentation that government will increase salaries for Civil servants in the beginning of this year.
The 1st quarter of the year is now coming to an end but the only communication civil servants have received is what ARTUZ described as an insult from Deputy Finance Minister, Kudakwashe David Mnangagwa.
Minister Mnangagwa was quoted telling Parliament that civil servants salaries are competitive.
ARTUZ said they vehemently reject Mnangagwa’s lies and are angered by Mthuli Ncube’s failure to deliver on his promise.
The Union has tabled other urgent legitimate demands before the Minister.
“The Ministry has willfully ignored the devaluation of Labour. A teacher’s salary should not be a “survival ration.” We demand a minimum wage of US$1,260 to ensure the survival of our families and restore the dignity of the profession. While global markets fluctuate by 4%, the Ministry has imposed a 40% hike on local fuel. This hike is not only extortion but a tax on movement and a barrier to rural service. We demand the suspension of predatory taxes and levies to bring the pump price down from the prohibitive US$2.17.” said ARTUZ.
The Union further alleged that there is an e pay slip scandal unfolding as to work without a pay slip is to work in the dark.
“The broken payroll portal leaves rural teachers vulnerable to predatory loan sharks who thrive on this lack of transparency. We demand the restoration of physical pay advice slips or an automated SMS-based pay advice system so we can manage our lives with clarity. The silencing of the worker which also violates the Constitution is of grave concern. Unilateral salary decrees strip us of our agency. We demand genuine Collective Bargaining through the PSC, giving workers a seat at the table” boldly declared the ARTUZ Executive.
Artuz said the Finance Ministry is also rocked by failure to disburse Beam funds a situation that is causing challenges to beneficiaries and school authorities.
Current economic conditions have forced civil servants into informal trade.
ARTUZ bluntly told the Minister that many teachers, civil servants, and other members of the working class must moonlight as vendors or rent
The Union also expressed solidarity with striking nurses.
“The Fiscal Consolidation policies have led to the total collapse of health services. We stand with our striking nurses and demand immediate healthcare funding to end the strike and restore basic healthcare for teachers, students, and our communities. Our hospitals must be places of healing, not the graveyards they have become.
We are equally concerned on why should a child in a rural village have a different future than one in an elite urban school? We demand the urgent introduction of an Education Equalization Fund to bridge the gap, providing desks, labs, and dignity to every school, including rural schools where our members serve” concluded ARTUZ.
