Zimbabwe decides to pay workers early ahead of crunch meeting

The government which is having a crunch meeting with civil servants today has decided to pay its workers their January salaries early to enable them to meet the challenges that they are facing.

The civil servants are said to be demanding payment in United States dollars and have asked for hefty pay packages in which the lowest worker will be paid $1 700 a month and the highest $3 000.

This is five times what they are currently getting.

The government is meeting workers’ representatives at noon today to map the way forward.

Members of the security services who include the army, air force, prisons and police, as well as those in the health and education sectors will be paid on Monday, 14 January.

Junior doctors have been on strike since 1 December but some are reported to have returned to work on Monday.

Teachers have also been threatening to strike and a group is camped outside Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube’s offices.

The rest of the workers including pensioners will be paid on Wednesday, 16 January.

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