Ncube must not celebrate mediocrity
REMARKS attributed to Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube that government was the highest paying employer in the country cannot go unchallenged.
He even dared those disputing his ridiculous assertion to come forward and prove him wrong. Honourable minister Sir, the situation on the ground is proving you wrong that is why teachers are not reporting for work because they are incapacitated. Nurses have been on strike and shifted to flexi hours because they are failing to make ends meet.
The rampant corruption in the uniformed forces is because of sub-economic salaries being paid to the police. The rest of the civil service is crying because you reduced their salaries from over US$500 to US$30.
Should civil servants celebrate mediocrity and draw solace from the fact that the government is paying more than other employers? Does that bring bread on the table of a civil servant? Does it pay school fees for his child at a decent school?
In any race there is winner which means that among tortoises in a 100m sprint there is one tortoise which will come out tops even if it takes six hours to complete the race which a cheetah does in less than five seconds. We cannot expect a tortoise to claim that it is the best with a time of six hours instead five seconds. It is the quality of the win which counts.
On the day Ncube tells us that government is paying competitive salaries in the Southern African Development Community region, then we can say he has come of age. Aim for the best and not the worst otherwise we will forever remain in the doldrums because we are first among losers. Let us take pride in paying our workers decent salaries so that they do not become economic refugees in the Diaspora.
As a country, we are lost when we have a whole minister boasting that the government is the highest paying employer while its employee are struggling to make ends meet.
Ncube you must stop being academic, wake up and smell the coffee. You are paying pathetic salaries and you don’t need a rocket scientist to disprove you.
Worried