PUBLIC SECTOR STRIKES FEED ON LARGER FRUSTRATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LUSAKA 000417

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

TREASURY FOR LINDSAY PARTUSCH, DEPT FOR S/GAC JKOHLER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ELAB KCOR ZA
SUBJECT: PUBLIC SECTOR STRIKES FEED ON LARGER FRUSTRATION
WITH BANDA ADMINISTRATION

REF: LUSAKA 367

LUSAKA 00000417 001.2 OF 002



1. (SBU) Summary. The Government of Zambia (GRZ) is
struggling to respond as strikes by rural teachers and nurses
begun in late May have spread nationwide and now involve
workers in the Ministries of Health, Education, Agriculture,
Lands, Mines, and Energy. Originally an expression of
outrage at the GRZ's stalling tactics in salary and benefits
negotiations with the various unions that represent public
sector workers, the strikes have gathered steam as a result
of the recent corruption scandal at the Ministry of Health
and other scandals related to the misuse of public resources
(reftel). The education and health sectors have been hardest
hit by the strikes, with many clinics and schools in rural
areas closing. Negotiations between the unions and the GRZ
continue, and government papers continue to insist that an
agreement is imminent. In the meantime, opposition parties
are making political hay (and appearing to strike a chord
with a disgruntled public) by highlighting President Banda's
trip to Victoria Falls and Cape Town while students lack
teachers and critically ill Zambians are unable to access
medical care. End summary.


2. (SBU) Teachers and health care workers in Southern,
Central and Copperbelt provinces declared strikes and
"go-slows" beginning in late May due to delays in salary and
benefit negotiations between the GRZ and their respective
unions. Worker demands include a 25 percent pay raise,
payment of the rural hardship allowance, and increases in the
housing allowance. According to Darrison Chaala, General
Secretary of the Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of
Zambia (CSAWUZ),the housing allowance in particular is a
sticking point for the workers. The lowest-paid civil
servant, said Chaala, receives approximately USD 22 per month
as a housing allowance, when recent price surveys for housing
in Lusaka show that the average price of a 3-room house is
approximately USD 220 per month.


3. (SBU) The strikes picked up steam during the first week of
June in the wake of allegations of large-scale corruption at
the Ministry of Health and in anticipation of the June
allocation of generous mid-term gratuities (USD 9700) to all
158 members of Parliament. "If you can afford to give huge
gratuities to MPs who have done nothing, then give us our
money too," a local paper quoted one worker as saying.
Another worker said, "You can't say that you don't have the
money with the misappropriations going on in this country."


4. (SBU) Many clinics in rural areas have closed, forcing
patients to delay treatment or to travel for long distances
in search of a health center able to receive patients.
Students at high schools in Lusaka and in the Copperbelt have
also riote in protest at the lack of teachers. Post issued
a consular warden message regarding the possibiliy of
sporadic outbursts of violence and plans toissue another
message alerting Amcits to the possbility that non-emergency
services at public cliics may not be available and that
private clinic therefore might be crowded.


5. (SBU) The June 0 edition of government-affiliated
newspaper "The Times of Zambia" quoted Ministry of Health
Permanent Secretary Velepi Mtonga as saying that a partial
agreement with health care unions regarding salaries had been
struck. However, CSAWUZ official Chaala told emboff that
there was no such agreement. Negotiations between the GRZ
and the unions continued all day on June 10 between
representatives of the Office of the Vice President, the
Ministry of Labour, and the unions. Government papers on
June 11 continue to report that a deal is imminent, but
independent newspaper (and Banda enemy) "The Post" refuted
the reports and reported extensively on women giving birth in
the street and on an increase in patients being brought in
dead as a result of the lack of health care.


6. (SBU) Meanwhile, President Rupiah Banda and a coterie of
ministers continued a previously-planned trip to Victoria
Falls for the COMESA summit and to Cape Town to attend the
19th World Economic Forum on Africa. Despite closed clinics,
Minister of Health Simbao also decided to attend the PEPFAR
conference in Windhoek, Namibia. While other GRZ officials
have been at pains to present Banda's trip as a necessary
foreign engagement and to stress that the vice president and
cabinet are more than able to respond to the strikes,
opposition parties such as the Patriotic Front (PF) and
United Party for National Development (UPND) have made
political hay of Banda's absence and appear to be scoring
points with a public that is increasingly fed up with

LUSAKA 00000417 002.2 OF 002


government corruption and inaction.


7. (SBU) Comment. While the GRZ will ultimately come to some
agreement with the unions, the strikes are yet another
symptom of a larger frustration with the Banda administration
as new corruption scandals erupt almost daily. Banda's
frequent absences from the country, particularly at a time
when his opponents can credibly paint a "life or death" label
on the consequences of government inaction, certainly do not
help. Observers are betting on a Cabinet shuffle in the near
future, but it may not be enough to rehabilitate Banda's
damaged image. End comment.
KOPLOVSKY