Public servants reject gov’t offer
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday June 23, 2025 12:16
The six plus one cooperating trade unions (BOPEU, BTU, BOSETU, BONU, BLLAHWU, NALCGPWU & BDU) and government, represented by the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), met on May 9, 2025 to deliberate and agree on the preparations for the negotiations for the financial year 2025/26. They agreed to commence the salary negotiations for 2025/26 financial and other conditions of service on the 20th and conclude by May 26, 2025. However, with parties being unable to find each other, they agreed that the unions should go to their members to consult on offers made by the employer, which trade unions have already rejected. Addressing their members during the ongoing consultations, NALCGPWU (Manual Workers Union) representative Johnson Motshwarakgole did not hold back accusing senior government officials of earning big salaries and neglecting other employees.
Motshwarakgole told the members that they are not asking for salary increase, but rather want their arrears. “Let me explain three things that we failed to agree with government. They say that we should consult with you to agree that we should forget about what is owed to public servants. We agreed that we should not demand salary increases from government, rather that we want them to pay civil servants what they owe them. We don’t want an increase, but payment of what is already due to them,” he said. Motshwarakgole gave an example that someone currently at B1 scale and currently earning P9, 000 is owed in that they should actually be earning P13, 000. He said someone at B4, currently earning P4, 590 should be earning P6, 000. “Government has asked us to come plead with you to erase the debt. We do not have the right and powers to get rid of the debt, it belongs to you. What I am saying is that someone who earns P35, 000.00 at D scale, could be earning P60, 000.00,” he said. He called on the employees to take into consideration that currently there are three White Papers on public service salaries. He said there is E2 scale and above, which is highly secretive that very little is known about, then there is D1 and below, and there is A3 and A2 scales. “The one for E2 and above has been pushed out of the Paterson Structure, because the same money we are told you cannot get, has been given to those at the top. They are enjoying that money and left you with the structure,” he said.
The veteran unionist said the job descriptions being used are from 1988, but currently, there is no one doing a job like it was done in 1988. He accused senior civil servants of changing their job descriptions in 2024 and escalated them to higher earnings. “They then decided to leave the Paterson Structure to you and they use their own. I did not believe there were people earning as much as P200, 000.00. We cannot allow that,” he said, to murmurings in agreement with him. Motshwarakgole also said even if all trade unions can agree that government should not pay, they will still continue to demand what is due to their members. He said there is no way anyone can cancel that debt. He said even the members have debts and they are not cancelled, stating that everyone must come up with a plan to settle their debts. “We are here to deliver the news for you to decide if you wish to cancel the debt,” he said.
Motshwarakgole said they are also against government’s idea of using allowances to contribute towards the proposed P4, 000 minimum wage. “We will not allow the P4,000.00 to include allowances. That is not what we were told in the beginning. We do not want to do it like Choppies where they used groceries to make up P4,000.00. We want full P4,000 minimum excluding any allowances,” he said. He expressed hope that the reason they embrace the new minimum wage is that it would bring about a situation in which the lowest earners would now become pensionable. “But with allowances, people will not become pensionable. We do not want such,” he said. Mmegi has learnt that government has availed P256 million for workers salary increase. The government proposes allowances that will see the lowest paid employees at A3 Scale having an increase from P2, 850 to P4, 070. The lowest paid Employee (A3) to get a total P1,150 housing and upkeep allowance. The lowest paid employee would have now reached the P4, 000 living baseline.
DPSM representative at the negotiations Cheneso Maphorisa would not be dragged to discuss government's position stating that government could only comment after negotiations are done.