Govt sets aside $5m for retrenched workers

Government is creating a database of thousands of workers affected by the 2015 retrenchments, with a view to offer them loans to start income generating projects, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Deputy Minister Tapiwa Matangaidze has said.

It is believed that $5 million has been set aside for that purpose. "The labour dispute system settlement in Zimbabwe has gone through major changes over a short period of time and major changes arose as a result of the Zuva judgment," said Deputy Minister Matangaidze.

"It was not without consequential job losses. After many years of serving an organisation, most employees found themselves going home empty handed.

"We introduced the Labour Amendment Act, which managed to douse the fire, but it could not deal with the trauma encountered by those who lost their jobs."

Deputy Minister Matangaidze said Government had already lined up resources for the retrenchees.

"Our ministry is in the process of creating a database of all the affected employees, which we will forward to NSSA, so that they access loans to kick-start various income generating projects, and the process is at an advanced stage," he said.

"Five million dollars has already been set aside, ready for disbursement as soon as the process is finished."

Deputy Minister Matangaidze expressed concern over some companies that continued to retrench workers.

"We have noticed that companies continued to retrench citing viability challenges," he said. "In 2016, 3 881 employees were retrenched and 763 of that number were in the commercial sector, citing outsourcing of labour as the major reason.

"The inherent potential of the labour market to casualise labour cannot be overemphasised; it should be a priority area for each constituency here to arrest casualisation of labour by all means.

"The total number of companies, which retrenched in the first quarter of 2016, was 76, compared to 82 for the same period in 2017 and cumulatively there was an increase of 62 percent in the number of employees retrenched in the first quarter of 2017 to the second quarter of 2017."

Most companies retrenched workers in 2015 on three months notice, following a ruling by the Supreme Court in the Zuva Petroleum saga, which gave the green light for employers to unilaterally dismiss their workers.