Tshinga Dube wades into 'foreign' labour saga

Makokoba MP and former Cabinet minister Tshinga Dube has waded into the emotional "jobs for the boys" debate — by calling corporates and parastatals with a presence in the city to give first preference to Bulawayo residents whenever they are recruiting, especially for menial jobs.

Dube said his remarks should not be misconstrued as fanning tribalism or regionalism.

Instead, they should be seen as stopping a "worrying trend" which has seen Bulawayo residents missing out on jobs due to the recruitment of those outside the city – a culture he said was now causing social distress to the residents.

"I have a lot of complaints coming from my constituency in terms of labour practice in the city.

"Firstly, Bulawayo is a metropolitan province, where people are from all over the country. They are all Bulawayo people there is no question of tribe, origin or race.

"The problem that we face is that when a few job opportunities open up, the people who are here are not considered by the companies who work from here.

"Sometimes they bring buses of their own people from other provinces to come and work here. This means that those young people in Bulawayo have no chance to get a job," the forthright Dube told Southern News.

He said this was one of factors fuelling the mass exodus of potential good labour from young people to neighbouring South Africa.

"We don't ever say there should be segregation on regional basis, but what we are saying is that those who live in any city should have first preference rather than importing labour from other towns.

"Recently, there were vacancies at Zesa and they employed 150 people and all these people were ferried from other provinces to take up the jobs.

"This happened while the young people here were watching," Dube said adding that "this has created a very low morale among the people of this city."

He said what was disappointing was the fact that most organisations especially parastatals were no longer going via the labour office as should be the case when hiring.

"They don't go through the labour office; the office is just like a dummy. They deliberately do that such that they pick their relatives, friends and those who will have given them kickbacks in return for employment.

"I am very disappointed I know people will be very quick to say I am talking tribalism but I am saying everyone who lives in Bulawayo regardless of tribe should be given first preference.

"It's very difficult to legislate against the movement of people, anyone has a right to work anywhere in this country as long as he or she is a Zimbabwean citizen.

"What we are saying is it's only fair when you are hiring labour for menial jobs to hire locals because that's where they live and they have nowhere to go. Of course as for specialised jobs you can choose wherever because expertise in a certain area will be the priority," said Dube.

Dube said the same trend was taking place at local tertiary institutions.

"For example even our tertiary students every province has a college but you find students from outside come and take up all the vacancies, leaving locals stranded in the end they turn to criminal activities or cross to South Africa."

Dube said Bulawayo was in a double tragedy as besides the "importation" of labour, there was political segregation where menial jobs are awarded to those in the main opposition MDC when it came to council-related opportunities.

"As you are aware that Bulawayo is controlled by MDC, it's a pity that those who don't belong to that party are not given the chance to work as they are employed on political basis."

Dube's sentiments resonate with rights and several civic groups in the country who have previously expressed their disquiet over the habit of recruiting outside Bulawayo even when those qualified are resident in the city.

Apart from recruiting outside Bulawayo, several companies have been accused of bringing their personnel to officiate at events in the region despite having staff dedicated in that part of the country.