HARARE – The treason trial of MDC party treasurer general and deputy agriculture minister-designate Roy Bennett failed to resume on Monday due to the ongoing strike by civil servants.

Both state and defence lawyers turned up at the High Court but were turned away by presiding Judge Chinembiri Bhunu because he had no support staff.

The lawyers had a brief meeting with Bhunu in his chambers where they were told that the trial would not go ahead as scheduled.

State lawyer Chris Mutangadura said the trial had been postponed indefinitely because of the strike by civil servants.

“The matter has been postponed indefinitely until the strike is over. All matters at the High Court have to be recorded and the clerk of court is not available. We don’t have a date when the trial can resume because of the strike,” said Mutangadura.

Zimbabwe’s public workers embarked on an indefinite strike on Friday to press the cash-strapped unity government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to hike salaries.

The strike yesterday shutdown several public schools, courts and other official departments severely affecting government operations.

Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro yesterday said the government has no money to meet the civil servants salary demands.

“It is not unwillingness on the part of the government. It is simply the lack of fiscal capacity on our part,” Mukonoweshuro told journalists in Harare. “Everyone in government knows that what our workers are getting does not meet their daily basic expenses.”

Civil servants have asked government to pay $630 a month for the lowest paid worker from the current $120. But the cash-strapped government has offered $122 in February which would be raised to $134 in April.

But Mukonoweshuro said: “Even if they ask for $300 for the least paid that would bring the salary bill to $1.3 billion, which is more than the annual budget (of $1.2 billion) of the government. Their demands are fine but that money is not there yet. There are promises though, but only in future. The government remains ready to engage the workers and we call their leaders to come and we look for a mutually agreeable path. It was a premature decision they made.”

Commenting on Mukonoweshuro’s call to return to the negotiating table, Raymond Majongwe, the secretary general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said: “If he has nothing to say he better shut up. Teachers and other civil servants are hungry. Money is there. Let them sell diamonds and we share that wealth instead of it being enjoyed by few individuals. Obert Mpofu (Mines Minister) seized 300 000 carats of diamonds from the central bank just last week. Those diamonds must be sold and we get paid.”

Since the formation of the unity government last February, teachers had returned to work while state hospitals were admitting patients again as nurses and junior doctors resumed their duties.

But failure by the unity government to convince major Western nations to provide direct financial support could see basic services such as health and education collapse again as civil servants strike or, as before, resume the exodus to foreign countries where wages and livings conditions are better. – ZimOnline