Zimbabwe's Gono in the dock over unpaid wages

Employees of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe are taking Gideon Gono, the governor of the central bank, to court over his failure to pay them for three months, say local media reports.

The Sunday Standard, an indepent weekly newspaper based in Botswana, reported on Sunday that the central bank workers' committee led by Wilton Mugabe, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the main labour union, last Wednesday took the central bank governor to the Labour Court for his failure to pay workers for the past three months.

"We do not know how much we are supposed to be earning. In January we once filed a complaint with a Labour officer on the above issues in terms of Section 93 of the Labour Act and to date the issue has not been resolved and the conciliator has since advised us (applicant) to approach the Labour Court for a remedy. Three months without a salary is unbearable and is a justified cause for the matter to be heard as an urgent issue," said a proclamation accompanying the court papers and signed by Mugabe seen by the Sunday Standard.

Mugabe further noted in the court papers that on 13 January after writing several communications to the governor and some senior officers and failing to get a response, the workers issued a notice to go on strike. He added that the central bank had unilaterally removed some staff benefits such as medical aid cover, medical loans, educational loans and canteen facilities. The matter is set for a second hearing on Tuesday.

Peter Mutasa, the acting president of the Zimbabwe Banks and Allied Workers Union, an organisation allied to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union representing bank employees, could not confirm that central bank staff were suing Gono but told CentralBankNews.com that the union had received and approved about 400 membership applications from central bank employees since February. Mutasa said that central bank employees had never applied for union membership before this date. He said that the union now awaits approval from the central bank management, who should deduct and transfer membership fees for registered employees before the end of the month.

Central bank staff reportedly started to experience difficulties after the unofficial dollarisation of the economy began late last year. The Zimbabwean dollar, undermined by hyperinflation, lost its value and acceptability, prompting Zimbabweans to switch to using dollars, euros, rands and pulas.