Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Retrenches 1,600 Workers

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has laid off 1,600 workers in a bid to transform and refocus to its core business.
Investigations carried out by New Ziana revealed that the workers were served with official communication terminating their contracts on Tuesday.
One of the workers who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were required to report for duty until Jan 31, 2011.
"We received the letters on Tuesday and we are supposed to stop coming to work by the end of this month. Work is going on as usual but we are obviously saddened at the loss of our jobs," she said.
The employee said there had been a massive cutback of personnel at the central bank with some departments downsizing by more than half of the current workforce.
"There were 72 people in my department but only 17 have been lucky enough to keep their jobs," she said.
She said their severance packages would not be paid in full when they leave employment on Jan 31 but would be paid out in installments.
"We are made to understand that our money will be paid over a period of three months, depending on how much an individual is owed and the pay grade," she said.
Efforts to get confirmation on this development from the central bank were fruitless as the Public Relations Manager, Kumbirai Nhongo, declined to comment.
"I cannot comment over the phone on that matter and the best you can do is to send your queries in writing and I will work on them," he said.
The RBZ is saddled with a massive debt overhang of US$1.2 billion owed to various creditors, of which 65 per cent was inherited from previous administrations.
The debts were accumulated from supporting crucial national programmes such as buying agricultural inputs and machinery and also lending support to ailing parastatals.