Mthuli Ncube dangles carrot in front of civil servants, promises bonus in November.

Finance minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has pulled another trick up his sleeve in order to quell growing discontentment amongst civil servants over the effects of the economic meltdown. He recently announced that all civil servants will be getting their bonus in November this year.

Prof Ncube was speaking at a mid term budget review event hosted by Alpha media holdings in the capital Harare. He said that he had set aside some money meant for bonus. He also said that government was putting effort to alleviate the suffering of civil servants and employing all possible measures to make their life bearable. He stated,” And I insist that civil servants will get their bonuses again this year at the end of November and of them will get paid”.

The minister also made reference to the 400 dollar cushion allowance that was given to civil servants at the end of last month. The minister implored those in the private sector to align their employees’ salaries with the current economic situation just as government was doing. Most people have however lashed back at the minister and stated that the cushion allowance could hardly sustain anyone.

Prof Ncube also indicated that government had set aside 280 billion dollars for command agriculture. Furthermore another 1.1 billion dollars was put aside for social safety net which included the building of schools, refurbishment of public transport system and implementation of a food support programme.