Zimbabwe: Govt Bypasses Finance Minister to Pay Officials From Diamond Funds

SW Radio Africa (London)

Tererai Karimakwenda

22 July 2011

The Mugabe regime has continued efforts to undermine the MDC-T over the issue of civil servants’ salary increases, with reports saying the wage increment paid out this week came directly from diamond sales and bypassed Finance Minister Tendai Biti and the Treasury.

According to NewsDay newspaper, civil servants who received their new salaries on Tuesday were paid an average increase of US$100 each. This increased the government wage bill from $120 million to $160 million a month.

The report said the $40 million increase was provided by the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and paid directly into the Salaries Services Bureau account. This completely undermines Biti, who reportedly confirmed the development and said the Treasury was unable to sustain this salary hike.

The state run Herald newspaper then published a report claiming the wages went up despite statements from Biti, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, that the government had no money.

Economic analyst John Robertson agreed with Biti’s assessment that the increment is not sustainable. “This is not the way it is done. Public sector workers are normally paid from taxes collected by government,” Robertson told SW Radio Africa on Friday.

He explained that revenue from diamonds is not consistent and ZANU-PF is “depending on something that is not very dependable”. Commenting on ZANU PF accusations that Biti was the problem, Robertson said: “There seems to be a political agenda to cause embarrassment to the MDC, and public workers will be very disappointed when there is no money to sustain the increases.”

To sustain the salary increases until the end of the year, the ZMDC needs to pay $240 million into the government salaries account from diamond sales, according to NewsDay. The report described the way the money was paid out as “irregular and even scandalous.”

ZANU PF has consistently accused Biti of refusing to increase salaries to government workers, a charge the minister denies. Biti insists the government is broke and ZANU PF is simply blaming the MDC-T in order to gain support.

We were unable to contact the MDC-T for a comment on the development.

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