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Business Reporter
CABINET has approved principles of the proposed Tripartite Negotiation Forum Bill aimed at promoting social dialogue among TNF partners namely Government, labour and employers.
The TNF is a social dialogue platform that brings together three social partners to deliberate on socio-economic issues affecting the economy. It has been in existence since 1998 as a voluntary and unlegislated forum.
But lately, there has been no engagement among the partners largely due to mistrust among the social partners.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira said in an interview this week that the proposed principles has had input from all partners and the document was now with the Attorney General’s office, now drafting the Bill.
Major areas which need to be addressed immediately include pricing of labour, electricity and its supply, unnecessary and enormous levies from regulators, ways to raise productivity and financing of industrial requirements.
“The TNF was not legislated; it was a gentleman’s agreement and not binding,” said the minister.
“Having realised the need for social dialogue, we found that it was appropriate to have the TNF legislated and about two weeks ago, the Cabinet approved the principles.”
Last week on Friday, the Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe hosted a conference in Kadoma, which brought together employers, legislators and the executive at a common platform to discuss short-term measures to revive the economy.
Emcoz director Mr John Mufukari said it was agreed that social dialogue was essential. Economic analysts said the current state of affairs where it is a case of “dog-eat-dog” was unsustainable.
“For instance, the Government, through ZIMRA is wreaking havoc on the economy by garnishing accounts of companies that are in arrears.
“Workers are not happy with companies especially on salary cuts. The revival of the TNF is a step in the right direction as this will result in lasting solution to problems bedevilling the economy if only there is political will from the Government and commitment from labour and business,” economist Dr Gift Mugano said.
He said the summary of the problems affecting Zimbabwe was lack of competitiveness due to low productivity, the country’s perception and unsustainable costs coming from wages and salaries, regulators such as Environmental Management Agency and the pricing of enablers like electricity, transport and water.
Dr Mugano said the TNF should bring major stakeholders in policy to the table to dialogue. Minister Mupfumira is hoping the Bill would be completed in the next two months.
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