VZCZCXRO6348
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHLS #0417/01 1621146
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111146Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY LUSAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7054
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP 0134
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

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