TelOne Employees Ask For Salary Increment – We Can’t Afford TelOne’s Cheapest Service

TelOne employees penned a letter to their administration requesting decent wages last month.

The letter raises the following issues:

Salaries shouldn’t be so low since TelOne’s MD Chipo Mtasa is part of Auxiallia Mnangagwa’s (1st Lady) Angel of Hope Foundation known for its charity efforts;
The lowest salary which amounts to ZW$1728 is inadequate;
TelOne’s basic package + modem costs ZW$7050 – most TelOne staffers can’t afford the most basic service;

Our Managing Director is the Secretary to Mai Mnangagwa’s Angel of Hope Foundation, a foundation which is known for helping the underprivileged. Workers are impoverished since their salaries have been eroded by inflation.
The lowest paid employee is getting nothing, an amount which cannot allow him/her to purchase a service he/she offers in terms of basic salary is getting $1 728 per month whilst the modem for the cheapest service is going for $6 600 RTGS plus a bundle of $450 RTGS.
If the truth is to be told, no TelOne employee can afford the cheapest service they offer in the market.
In view of the above discrepancies and our desire to continue working and producing for our company, we hereby kindly ask you to provide us with tents so that we can put our respective families until such a time when we will be able to fend for ourselves

Two weeks ago, NetOne and TelOne announced a ZW$10 million COVID-19 fund. The fund will see 3 local hospitals get Personal Protective Equipment, water reticulation facilities, infrastructure development and more.

Whilst it’s not clear how much TelOne is actually contributing this might be one of the issues frustrating TelOne staffers. It’s fair to also note that corporate social responsibility usually comes with tax breaks and the donations might actually improve the company’s financial position – though this is just speculation on my part.

It seems telecommunications companies are one of the hardest-hit sectors operating in an economy on a downward spiral along with COVID-19. In January, Telecel employees penned a letter to the ICT Ministry calling for an intervention to save the company flailing company.

Last month, Telecel employees got their salaries cut to ZW$800, with the telecoms company blaming COVID-19 and the lockdown which reduced revenues.