THE Apex Council is still not properly constituted, making it difficult to negotiate salary increments and conditions of service for civil servants, a Cabinet minister has said.
Staff Reporter
Public Service minister Lucia Matibenga told NewsDay last week that the situation would also affect the alignment of laws governing the Public Service Commission with the new Constitution.
The Apex Council encompasses the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta), Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, Public Service Association (PSA), Civil Service Employers’ Association, Zimbabwe Law Officers’ Association and the Professional and Technical Officers’ Association.
“The Apex Council is still not properly constituted due to wrangling and I have asked them to solve their issues as soon as possible as the situation is creating a vacuum where there is no dialogue between the workers and government,” Matibenga said.
Matibenga said she had written to the associations instructing them to properly constitute the Apex Council, but nothing had happened to date.
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“On May 16, Zimta acknowledged receipt of my letter dated April 29 and they admitted the elections of the Apex Council were fatally defective, leading to a discredited poll which remains to date disowned. On May 7, the PSA also responded, saying they had tried to find a mediator in the dispute among the associations, but other associations had refused,” she said.
Under the new constitution, a Zimbabwe Public Service Collective Bargaining Council is supposed to be set up in addition to aligning the Public Service Act with the new charter.