Civil servants yesterday expressed anger after failing to access their US$75 allowances as promised by the government, accusing their employer of being insincere.

Government last month promised civil servants a cushioning allowance of US$75 for the next three months and ordered employees to open nostro bank accounts to access the funds.

However, the civil servants yesterday said they were failing to access the promised funds with Finance minister Mthuli Ncube saying banks would not be allowed to release hard currency to individuals.

“The systems are ready for civil servants to get the US$75 from the special foreign currency accounts which were opened. The process has been completed now and the banks have said they are ready to issue cards for use in the shops,” Mthuli told Senate yesterday.

“However, we do not want individuals to withdraw cash from banks for the US$75 allowance because we are concerned as a government that it will end up in the parallel market.”

This came as Information permanent secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana accused banks of compelling civil servants to liquidate their allowances within the bank.

“Some unscrupulous banks are impelling civil servants to liquidate their US$75 within the bank, in the process shamelessly mopping up forex from poor workers. Civil servants are supposed to be given cards which they can use in participating retail outlets as they please,” Mangwana said.

The Apex Council, an umbrella body for civil servants unions said there was no clear explanation on the allowances they were supposed to get.

“There is no adequate information on the ground as to exactly what to do. If I go to my bank, what should I expect?

This has created a lot of confusion. We now don’t know whether this is real or not. If you go to a bank, you are told that you can convert the amount into RTGS [Real Time Gross Settlement], then transfer it into your Zimdollar account,” Apex Council spokesperson David Dzatsunga said.

“They said they would give a hybrid card that would reflect the Zimdollar balance and US dollar balance. They said it’s something they are working on and while they are doing that, it is not clear. They are different scenarios without a clear message out there.

“We have always said this is a government initiative of which it was not arrived at out of any consultative process. So, they will always tell us that it has always been our decision, so you cannot tell us how to manage it.

The only thing we are waiting for is for the government to call us to the table and we discuss the real issues.”

-Newsday