adminpositive side the supply of goods and services has generally improved in the country due to influx of the foreigners, mainly from West Africa and Asia who are setting up shops in the country. However, it is the welfare of Zimbabweans who are employed to work in these shops that has become a cause for concern.
Most of the employees are underpaid, as most salaries are way below the poverty datum line, yet their employers are reaping huge profits from their enterprises. In addition they are denied benefits such as medical aid and pensions to mention just a few.
It is alleged that on average an employee in these shops earn about US$100 per month. Hiring and firing of employees with no recourse is so rampant despite us having labour laws in this country.
This business approach which is commonly being employed by the expatriates in their trade be it at Gulf Complex, Ximex Mall, and other shopping malls which are just sprouting in down-town Harare and other cities needs to be corrected as it is increasingly getting out of hand.
Our labour laws appear to be virtually non-existent to the foreign nationals as they take advantage of the high demand for jobs in the country to scare vulnerable Zimbabweans into submission.
Foreigners own about 65 percent of clothing shops in the Central Business District, which makes a mockery of the whole empowerment exercise until such disparities in opportunities are addressed.
The prerogative must be upon the authorities to set laws that forbid expatriate companies from running businesses, which are worth below a certain value.
Since the indigenisation policy calls for foreign companies with net assets below US$500 000 to be indigenised, it must also apply that the same foreign companies cannot duck the policy through setting proxy offices which only specialises in transfer pricing.
The boutique shops and shoe-manufacturing firms which have replaced Bata Shoe Company are not contributing to the fiscus as they continue evading taxes and creating fictitional employment which cannot
impact on aggregate demand since the disposable incomes do not impact on the demand.
It is high time the Government lays the law in its approach to handling most of these superficial enterprises.
There is virtually no incentive for these organisations to invest in the infrastructure or to go into manufacturing.
Their immediate goals is to make profits yet they forget that if it wasn’t for the ingenuity of someone else to construct the existing structures, there was not going to be any shop to operate from.
We cannot afford to proceed with signing memorandum of agreements with countries of origin of these business people when our entrepreneurship spirit is under fire.
It is certainly a case of shooting ourselves in the foot if we allow small enterprises to take over all the office space.
The major reason for severe under-development of African cities is to do with poor planning by the respective city fathers. Are we prepared to turn Harare into another Kigali, Lagos, Nairobi, Maputo where market stalls dominate streets? Such a situation turns to become a breeding ground for corruption and other ill activities. It becomes contradictory to target Barclays ahead of the Chinese and Nigerian firms, this is because the latter can afford to pay employees salaries above the poverty datum line.
Why are we then promoting these insincere expatriates who are bent on running only consumer companies?
The targets for indigenisation are paying more taxes to the fiscus as compared to the uncelebrated boutique shops.
Please set a minimum salary and other living condition threshold with punitive measure attached for defaulting companies. These can include the withdrawal of an operating licence.
The abuse of workers’ rights in most of the companies owned by the Asians remains common news. If the third Chimurenga is fighting for black empowerment, it must not be confused as substituting whites for other races.
The Asian population outnumbers any other race and failure to implement policies, which will shield locals from such a budgeoning race spells doom for the future generation of this beautiful country. When a Zimbabwean is selling a pirated DVD, the Asian or Nigerian migrant will be selling the DVD player. When a Zimbabwean is selling juice cards, the foreigners will be marketing phones which are not originals.
The looming 2012 National Budget is set to be a measure of how stagnant this economy has been. Any attempt to call for a National Budget that is above US$3 billion will be mostly based on over-ambitious drive
by the authorities and not realism for the ever widening current account which is a clear testimony of how we are chewing more than we can digest.
This is not to mean that Zimbabwe does not deserve a bigger expenditure envelope but rather that we can only attain such a feat with relevant corporates not “parasites” which specialises in accumulating income at the expense of employee welfare.
Read the riot act to such companies and you will see how the local economy will rediscover direction.
There is every incentive to set up a company in Zimbabwe by foreigners considering the dollarised state of the economy and great potential for recovery following years of economic decline. This therefore calls for comprehensive laws, which will deter foreign players from exploiting locals. It is time to wake up and taste the coffee. Let’s make hay while the sun is still shinning. This is our country let’s dictate the rules of the game.
Thank You and God bless you.
- Christopher Takunda Mugaga is the Head of Research at Econometer Global Capital. He can be contacted on [email protected]. +263 772 340 353, +263 776 266 062
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