By Promise Dube
Some civil servants who worked as election officers during the August 23 elections claim the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) still owes them money for services rendered.
The affected civil servants claimed ZEC only paid them 80 percent of what they were owed for their role in overseeing Zimbabwe’s elections.
Although ZEC is responsible for overseeing Zimbabwe’s elections, the commission usually outsources services or hires officials from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education including and other government agencies.
The disgruntled civil servants told CITE on condition of anonymity that their payments are uncertain because it is unclear how much they should receive.
“Presiding officers received their remaining balance of US$360 when initially they were paid US$320. We were told that only 20 percent is remaining, but to our surprise, the presiding officers received more than 20 percent so it is not clear how much we are supposed to be paid,” said one of the concerned teachers.
The civil servants noted that it was possible that ZEC would hire some of them to participate in the pending December 9 by-elections, following the Nomination Courts that sat in areas where MPs and councillors were recalled.
“We know colleagues in these affected areas will actively participate but we have not received all of our money for services provided in August,” civil servants said.
Contacted for comment, ZEC Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Utloile Silaigwana questioned why the affected individuals chose to go to the media rather than coming to their offices if they had genuine concerns.
“ I am not aware because they did not come to me claiming they were not paid and second, we have clear channels of communication where we communicate,” Silaigwana said claiming some of the sources could be peddling falsehoods.
“How do I know these people are genuine? What if these people just want to tarnish the image of ZEC? We normally engage people who are employed by the government and they know exactly that if they have issues they do not run to the press but inquire at our offices. Civil servants do not act like that.
Silaigwana claimed that the commission had not received any complaints from the affected workers.
“We always communicate with civil servants every time and those who we hired know the amount they should be paid. I cannot respond fully because I do not have enough information on who these people are. By right, we have to know the station they were deployed in and their EC numbers so that we can check. What if it’s someone from the streets who wants to tarnish ZEC’s image? How do I know?”
Silaigwana said ZEC had official lines of communication that were open to its staff they hired for elections and the same procedures would apply going into the December 9 by-election.
“The Public Service Commission will give us workers that we will be working with and those that we worked with before were paid because we communicate with them directly, not through the media,” he said.
