The Mozambican President said today that paralysing activities cannot be the way to make wage demands and called on all powers to ‘make sacrifices’ to correct errors in the Single Wage Scale.
‘It is our understanding that paralysing production and productivity in certain key sectors is not and cannot be the solution to wage demands,’ said Filipe Nyusi during the swearing-in of Maria Isabel Bento Rupia as a judge adviser to the Supreme Court, at the Presidency in Maputo.
The Mozambican head of state acknowledged that there is a lack of understanding in the negotiations between the government and different sectors of the civil service that have announced strikes, but asked Mozambicans to resort to dialogue as the ‘only and exclusive tool for building consensus’.
‘Any other mechanisms will only contribute to exacerbating tempers and worsening differences,’ emphasised Filipe Nyusi.
The Mozambican President also said that he has been following ‘with interest’ the dialogue between the government and the judges, who have announced a strike in response to their demands, and guaranteed ‘unconditional support’ for achieving the financial independence of the judiciary.
‘We must reiterate that the salary restructuring process underway in our country will require all of us, the legislative, judicial and executive powers, to make sacrifices in order to correct any mistakes that may have been made and for all of us to move together towards equitable salary justice,’ said the Mozambican President.
On 17 July, the Mozambican Association of Public Prosecutors (AMMMP) submitted a set of demands to the government, calling for autonomy and financial independence, improvements in salaries and security for professionals in the profession.
‘In view of the responses to the various interpellations to the responsible government entities and in pursuance of the decision taken at the General Assembly held on 6 July, the association deposited its list of demands with the government today, 17 July,’ a statement from the association said at the time.
The Public Prosecutors‘ list of demands is being submitted to the government at a time when the Mozambican Judges’ Association announced on 9 July a month-long general strike starting on 9 August, due to the government’s failure to respond to their demands.
The judges are complaining about an alleged ‘depreciation of their status’ and flaws in the application of the new Single Salary Table (TSU), which has been strongly contested by other professional classes, such as doctors and teachers, who have even called strikes in protest at salary delays and cuts.
Approved in 2022 to eliminate asymmetries and keep the state wage bill under control, the start of the TSU caused salaries to skyrocket by around 36 per cent, from an expenditure of 11.6 billion meticais/month (169 million euros/month) to 15.8 billion meticais/month (231 million euros/month).
The TSU cost around 28.5 billion meticais (410 million euros), ‘more than expected’, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) document on the evaluation of Mozambique’s assistance programme consulted by Lusa in January.
Lusa
