By A Correspondent- The minister of Finance and Economic Development Professor Mthuli Ncube has s assured civil servants that they will this year get their bonuses in November, as usual.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Ncube said the 13th cheque will be paid on time. He said:

There is always a 13th cheque for civil servants, always, so they can expect one; we have not changed that. It will be paid on time.

Since January, Government has been progressively reviewing salaries, but workers still demand a restoration of their 2018 salaries when most of them got about USD500.

They currently get around USD200.

The government has also been adjusting pension payouts to cushion pensioners.

The government has also signalled that a meeting with public service representatives will be convened soon to discuss salaries and non-monetary incentives.

Before 2017, the government was delaying paying workers’ salaries as the country was generating insufficient revenue to meet its financial obligations. It was grouping sectors into groups with the security sector among the first groups to get paid.

In a recent interview, the Deputy Minister for Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Lovemore Matuke said the government was looking at ways to discuss salaries and non-monetary incentives. He said:

There are loans that have been available to civil servants so that they can start businesses; there was also a vehicle scheme to import vehicles duty-free, it has been rolling for about 10 years and is pending renewal. We are also looking at the issue of housing. We are working on providing civil servants with accommodation and this is gradually happening.

He said some of the options for improving the welfare of civil servants are expected to come from unions, as they know and understand what is best for them.