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NRZ turns to prison labour

News
THE cash-strapped National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has resorted to prison labour to cut grass and clear lines as part of its cost-cutting measures.

THE cash-strapped National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has resorted to prison labour to cut grass and clear lines as part of its cost-cutting measures, a senior NRZ official has confirmed.

Christopher Mahove

“The use of prison labour is not an isolated issue as there are many departments that use prisoners. Sometimes we may need them to attend to urgent needs, but we should not mix these issues,” said NRZ spokesperson Fanuel Masikati.

“We must make it clear that we have always had our own labour to do that work and we have not retrenched them, we are retaining all our labour. We must not mix this issue with the staggering of salaries, it is something that we hope will soon come to an end,” he said. Zimbabwe Prison Services spokesperson Elizabeth Banda also confirmed the development, but declined to disclose how much they were charging for the services.

“Any government department or parastatal is allowed to engage or request for labour for a specific task,” she said, adding it was a mutual agreement.

However, NRZ sources said the parastatal, which used to pay $90 per month to its casual workers for the same job, was now paying a paltry $2 per prisoner per day.

“They come in groups of 10 and work in different places each day. The authorities make every effort to ensure they are not seen by many people,” said a source who declined to be named.

The NRZ has been financially struggling for the past decade and owes its employees ten months’ salaries.

The workers recently took the matter to the Labour Court in Bulawayo, but judgment was reserved indefinitely.