WHEELS of justice are set to grind to a halt after public prosecutors indicated they are no longer able to continue reporting for duty because of low salaries in local currency.
The prosecutors are demanding to be paid United States dollar salaries or to work three days a week and use the other days to earn money through other activities.
They have written to their employer, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), seeking the green light to report for work three times per week.
“The incapacitation’s context is amplified and made glaringly obvious by the fact that June salaries meant to sustain prosecutors throughout July were issued at a time when $1 000 000 was roughly equal to US$100 and prosecutors are earning around $250 000, which translates to roughly US$25 a month, 83 cents a day,” the prosecutors said in a letter seen by NewsDay.
The Prosecutors Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ) is today set to meet with Acting Prosecutor-General Nelson Mutsonziwa to discuss staff welfare issues and chart the way forward.
“It is a shared cognisance that genuine regard for the office of the prosecution and the good work it does in fighting crime and corruption across the nation would see the urgent need to seek redress to the unfolding situation which is fast becoming a crisis reaching breaking point,” PAZ said.
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“It is disingenuous on one hand to claim in lip service to be committed to the fight against corruption yet on the other hand fail to ring-fence prosecutors against corruption.”
Mutsonziwa could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The government has been struggling to pay civil servants decent salaries due to low revenues and the collapse of the local currency.