Govt clarifies position on bonuses

Harare (New Ziana)-The government on Monday said top civil servants will not get bonuses this year but awards based on their performances to be paid early next year.

The government started paying its workers the USD 13th cheque last week with the security and health sectors being the first to receive their pay outs.

In a statement, secretary to Service Commissions Dr Rosemary Choruma said only junior civil servants would get bonuses this year.

“As per the signed agreement at the recent meeting of the National Joint Negotiation Council (NJNC), only those of positions of Deputy Director Grades and below will receive bonuses.

“This bonus will constitute the following: 13th cheque, plus special Presidential Bonus. This will be paid out in two equal batches in November and December.

“It must be noted that Director Grades and above signed performance contracts at the beginning of 2022. It is in view of these performance contracts that Directors and above will NOT receive any bonus in 2022 but rather will, at the beginning of 2023, get performance awards based on their performance for the year 2022,” she said.

She said the Directors and above would be paid the awards after all evaluations and assessments for the year 2022 were completed.

“Only Director Grades and above who meet their set targets will get performance awards.

“This is in line with Government’s new practice of performance contracting which only rewards satisfactory performance and sanctions non-satisfactory performance for Directors and above,” she said.

The government has since said starting next year, performance contracts, which had only been for director grades and above, would also be extended to all public workers.

Ambassadors, Ministers, permanent secretaries, chief executive officers of parastatals and local authorities, chief directors and directors signed performance contracts as part of the Second Republic’s result-based approach to service delivery.

Benefits of performance contracting include improved efficiency in service delivery by ensuring that holders of public offices are held accountable for results, ensuring that performance and results link with stakeholder expectations and enhancing good governance.

New Ziana