×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Govt must go beyond words

Columnists
AS the political temperature hit a boiling point in the last presidential election, the ruling Zanu PF party articulated a luring position of creating a whopping two million jobs for Zimbabweans.

AS the political temperature hit a boiling point in the last presidential election, the ruling Zanu PF party articulated a luring position of creating a whopping two million jobs for Zimbabweans.

To the discerning mind, however, this prospect was good, way too good to be true. The winter of 2015, coming exactly two years after the watershed election, has turned out to be a real nightmare for the long-suffering worker and the generality of Zimbabweans; the prospect of two million jobs is simply unthinkable at the moment.

It is quite unimaginable that a single month could change so many things.

Many are still trying to come to grips with the reality of the July ruling at a time when other avenues of eking out a living, like vending, are gasping for breath. The Supreme Court ruling has turned out to be a catalyst for the rapid loss of the few remaining jobs in the country. With about 20 000 workers out in the cold within two weeks, heaven knows where the next two months will lead.

Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku (top centre) flanked by High Court and Supreme Court judges
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku (top centre) flanked by High Court and Supreme Court judges

It has become exceedingly urgent for the government to cease postulating and expeditiously pursue the legal process necessary for amendments because any further delay will aggravate a situation already out of control, marked by archaic and vindictive firing of employees. Thousands of workers continue to lose jobs with no end in sight to the catastrophe and this should put the government’s conscience on trial.

The government, if really serious, must now move beyond words to arrest job carnage. A law remains in force unless otherwise rescinded or amended; it cannot be wished away and it is sad that the workers so indiscriminately discharged are people who have compliantly served organisations for decades.

As things stand, the Zimbabwean worker, particularly the union leader, has become more vulnerable, probably more vulnerable than at any other time in the history of post-colonial Zimbabwe. Workers are being fired subjectively without proper criteria.

Recent actions by State institutions even cast a darker shadow on the government’s sincerity in hurrying legal amendments as they have joined the assault on the country’s workforce. One would have thought government entities would go at it with a little restraint, but alas they have taken the lead. It is mind-boggling that some State enterprises that were quick to terminate jobs are the very establishments that have salary arrears for employees running into thousands of dollars.

Parastatals and quasi-government departments’ like Zimbabwe National Roads Administration, the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ), Air Zimbabwe, and National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) patently expose the government as they have led the crusade, callously sending hundreds of long-serving workers home. NRZ, for instance, has reportedly fired 350 workers and these are people whose salaries have not been paid from last year and whether they will get these arrears is anyone’s guess. The same parastatal is targeting 1 200 more employees.

Central Mechanical Equipment Department has axed 200 while the Grain Marketing Board has reportedly fired close to 1 200. The Herald newspaper reportedly fired 109. The situation is the same at the national broadcaster (Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation). It’s doubtful whether objective criteria is being used in these terminations. The ruling, instead, has become machinery for settling long-held scores.

A case in point is the firing of all the TSCZ provincial managers who had earlier taken the institution to court demanding back pay. Surely, this sounds more vindictive than anything else. The exercise simply could not have been carried out in good faith.

What is unforgiveable, however, is not the chaotic firing of employees, but the inaction; the delay in swiftly moving towards amendments by the government. Probably, like Martin Luther King (Jnr) philosophised: “Sometimes, it is not the acts of our enemies that hurt, but the silence of our friends.”

Likewise, it is not the willy-nilly firing of long-serving employees that’s rubbing in the salt, but the delay in pushing legal amendments by the government. It’s undeniable, the job terminations follow a legal ruling, but it is imperative that a civil manner is enforced.

An extraordinarily urgent route must be pursued. While President Robert Mugabe has expressed disgust at the law, it is not enough; real legal instruments have to be speedily put in place.

Industry minister Mike Bimha and Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa have endorsed the job terminations claiming it will help industry to breathe better. This is true yet it remains crucial for organisations to take cognisance, on altruistic grounds, of the need to carry out the process in a civil manner. It is simply against the true spirit of the country’s labour laws to arbitrarily fire employees whose salary arrears run into thousands of dollars without giving them a dime.

Learnmore Zuze is a legal researcher, author, and media analyst. He writes here in his own capacity. E-mail:[email protected]