Opinion / Columnist
Mugabe to stop companies firing workers by forcing them to bankruptcy!
15 Aug 2015 at 18:44hrs | Views
Since last month's Supreme Court ruling allowing employers to lay-off employees with three months' notice over 20 000 workers have been fired in three weeks, with thousands more now in the pipe line. Of course the nation has reason to be alarmed!
Laying-off workers is cause for concern for any nation but for a nation like Zimbabwe with unemployment rate already 90% plus any laid-off worker is a tragic loss. The 20 000 laid-off workers in themselves are a drop in the ocean of 4 million or so unemployed the real impact is felt by the hundreds of thousands other people who were depending of each one of these workers directly or indirectly.
No one will dispute that the wholesale laying-off of workers demanded now more than ever that something is done and fast to stop this haemorrhaging of the very few remaining jobs in a country. But, as is always the case in desperate situations like this, demanding something be done is the easy bit; naming the right "something" is the billion dollar challenge!
After weeks of twiddling their thumbs and wringing their fingers, the Zanu PF government has finally decided to act. Mugabe has recalled parliament to debate a bill to stop employers firing workers. The proposed bill will say "no employer shall terminate a contract of employment on notice unless the employer and employee mutually agree in writing to the termination of the contract."
Coming up with the right solution is the challenge but trust Mugabe to come up with a really stupid solution guaranteed to make the country's economic situation worse and not better!
No employer will engage a worker for the sole pleasure of laying-off the worker tomorrow; surely that has to be the starting point of any meaningful debate on this subject.
If a company is losing money hand over fist then it is only a matter of time before that company is forced to close down. Once a company is declared bankrupt it seizes to be an employer and no state law can force it retain employees and pay them wages. So companies that could have survived if they could downsize will now be forced into bankruptcy; in other words the new law will force existing companies to declare bankruptcy and close, laying-off everyone!
Worse still if it is near impossible to lay-off a worker, the would be prospective employer will have to be absolutely certain they need the worker not just for the present but for years to come before adding them to their books. Unemployment a nauseating 90% plus and therefore should be doing everything possible to encourage new and existing employers to take on new workers; we are enacting a law tell the employer take any worker at your own pearl!
Zimbabwe's economy is in total meltdown because of decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and the worst anti-investor laws in the world. Since the 2013 rigged national elections Mugabe thought he could rig economic recovery with his ZimAsset plan which sought to throw lots and lots of cash, $27 billion, at the economy without addressing any of the underlying causes. The economic recovery has not materialized because Mugabe failed to get any donor to bankroll his hare-brain plan.
Unemployment is a nauseating 90%, 76% of our people are living in total abject poverty, etc. these are the signs proving that Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is real and it is taking a heavy toll on the nation. The new wave of companies laying-off workers is just the latest reminder that the situation is getting worse and not better.
We are in this mess because for decades we have failed to address the underlying causes like corruption and lawlessness fuelling the economic decline. Passing a law stopping employers forced to down size because of the worsening economic situation is not going to revive the economy; we are just kicking the can down the road – the Cul-de-sac. Mugabe's stupid law will force company not to downsize but force them go into bankruptcy instead.
Mugabe's proposed new labour law will just be yet another burden on the already overburdened economic environment. He is just digging the nation into deeper economic trouble and will not quit until he has completely destroyed the nation and the economy is in ruins!
Laying-off workers is cause for concern for any nation but for a nation like Zimbabwe with unemployment rate already 90% plus any laid-off worker is a tragic loss. The 20 000 laid-off workers in themselves are a drop in the ocean of 4 million or so unemployed the real impact is felt by the hundreds of thousands other people who were depending of each one of these workers directly or indirectly.
No one will dispute that the wholesale laying-off of workers demanded now more than ever that something is done and fast to stop this haemorrhaging of the very few remaining jobs in a country. But, as is always the case in desperate situations like this, demanding something be done is the easy bit; naming the right "something" is the billion dollar challenge!
After weeks of twiddling their thumbs and wringing their fingers, the Zanu PF government has finally decided to act. Mugabe has recalled parliament to debate a bill to stop employers firing workers. The proposed bill will say "no employer shall terminate a contract of employment on notice unless the employer and employee mutually agree in writing to the termination of the contract."
Coming up with the right solution is the challenge but trust Mugabe to come up with a really stupid solution guaranteed to make the country's economic situation worse and not better!
No employer will engage a worker for the sole pleasure of laying-off the worker tomorrow; surely that has to be the starting point of any meaningful debate on this subject.
Worse still if it is near impossible to lay-off a worker, the would be prospective employer will have to be absolutely certain they need the worker not just for the present but for years to come before adding them to their books. Unemployment a nauseating 90% plus and therefore should be doing everything possible to encourage new and existing employers to take on new workers; we are enacting a law tell the employer take any worker at your own pearl!
Zimbabwe's economy is in total meltdown because of decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and the worst anti-investor laws in the world. Since the 2013 rigged national elections Mugabe thought he could rig economic recovery with his ZimAsset plan which sought to throw lots and lots of cash, $27 billion, at the economy without addressing any of the underlying causes. The economic recovery has not materialized because Mugabe failed to get any donor to bankroll his hare-brain plan.
Unemployment is a nauseating 90%, 76% of our people are living in total abject poverty, etc. these are the signs proving that Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is real and it is taking a heavy toll on the nation. The new wave of companies laying-off workers is just the latest reminder that the situation is getting worse and not better.
We are in this mess because for decades we have failed to address the underlying causes like corruption and lawlessness fuelling the economic decline. Passing a law stopping employers forced to down size because of the worsening economic situation is not going to revive the economy; we are just kicking the can down the road – the Cul-de-sac. Mugabe's stupid law will force company not to downsize but force them go into bankruptcy instead.
Mugabe's proposed new labour law will just be yet another burden on the already overburdened economic environment. He is just digging the nation into deeper economic trouble and will not quit until he has completely destroyed the nation and the economy is in ruins!
Source - Wilbert Mukori
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
