18th March, 2014
Zimbabwe’s cabinet on Tuesday announced a $6,000 monthly salary cap for executives of state-owned entities, following reports they were grossly overpaid.
“With immediate effect cabinet has decided that no chief executive of any state enterprise, parastatals or local authority should receive a total package which is above $6,000,” finance minister Patrick Chinamasa told journalists.
The move came after media reports showed that some heads of government companies were earning high salaries while the majority of workers lived in poverty.
Among the top earners was the head of the struggling Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, who took home $37,050 a month.
Last year the state broadcaster failed to pay workers for more than six months and the public health insurance fund fell behind on doctor salaries.
“The majority of these people were delivering a service to themselves, maybe a service to their pockets,” said Chinamasa.
Zimbabwe is recovering from an economic slump of more than a decade, caused by a political crisis, and the majority of the 13 million population live in poverty.
The country in 2009 ditched the worthless Zimbabwe dollar currency, in favour of the US dollar and a raft of other regional currencies.