Cash Pay Advance

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s financially beleaguered government has advanced loans, which run into trillions of dollars, to disgruntled soldiers, police officers and civil servants to "pacify" them ahead of elections on March 29. Sources said the government secured the money to dole out to uniformed forces and the civil service from the Reserve Bank, which by February 1 had loaned the state over $137 trillion to meet its recurrent expenditure and other obligations. The sources said the RBZ last month deposited the money into the accounts of the Public Service Commission, the Defence Service Commission, Prisons Service Commission and the Police Service Commission for on-ward transmission to the beneficiaries. The loans, the sources said, were doled out seven days before the beneficiaries’ salaries were due and there was no prior announcement on the disbursement of the monies or when they were expected to repay the loans and at what interest rate. Zimbabwe Teachers Association chief executive officer Peter Mabhande confirmed that civil servants had received money from the government as from last week, but denied that it was a loan or a salary advance. In January, nurses and doctors went on strike to press for better remuneration and working conditions and government reacted by advancing loans payables at a compound interest of 5%. Find Out More

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