Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Tshili
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PUBLIC Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Professor Paul Mavima has said Government will consistently review civil servants’ salaries in response to prevailing macro-economic environment as workers are critical to the country’s economic development.
Prof Mavima said the country’s workforce plays a significant role in the country’s quest to attain an upper middle-income economy by 2030.
Zimbabwe today joins the rest of the world in commemorating Workers Day, celebrated annually on May 1.
Prof Mavima said despite the rise of artificial intelligence, human contributions to the development of nations will never be replaced.
“There is no economy that can function without the labour force. The labour force is central to everything that happens in a nation, especially the development of our country as workers contribute to the productivity of a nation,” he said.
“These days you hear people talking about artificial intelligence, robotics, the fourth industrial revolution, but at the back of that artificial intelligence are workers that programme it. There are workers that make machines work hence the centrality of workers in any economy is never going to be diluted.”
Prof Mavima said in light of the technology changes it will be prudent to re-tool and re-skill workers so that they become relevant to the modern-day workplace.
He said the country needs to look after its workforce including strengthening the labour laws if Zimbabwe is to successfully implement the National Development Strategy 1.
“We need to strengthen our labour laws, we need to make sure that workers are treated right and we need to make sure that there is fair remuneration. As we commemorate Workers Day, we should all keep this in mind that for this country to move forward it needs workers,” said Prof Mavima.
“We as Zimbabwe, value you, we don’t take anything for granted and we know that this country will not progress without the valuable contribution that our workers make to this economy.”
Minister Mavima said there is a need to strike a balance between workers’ salaries and economic productivity.
He said while Government has been constantly reviewing salaries to conform to volatility in the economy, there is a need to stabilise the economy to preserve workers’ wages from being eroded.
“You will remember that just a few weeks ago and starting in April civil servants got a 100 percent salary increase and another increase in allowances paid in US dollars. We are really perturbed with the sudden change in the exchange rate which is now starting to erode that award which we had given our civil servants,” said Prof Mavima.
“We are very much aware of the problems that Government employees encounter when their salaries are eroded. So, we have had period reviews and we will continue to have these periodic reviews going forward.”
Prof Mavima said in terms of reviewing labour laws, Government wants to protect contract workers who remain in that state for prolonged periods.
He said Government also intends to address the three months-notice issue which led to thousands of workers’ contracts being arbitrarily terminated on notice pursuant to the infamous Zuva Petroleum judgment of July 2016
“The abusive treatment of workers has to stop. We are strengthening issues to deal with sexual harassment by adopting Convention 190 of the International Labour Organisation which deals with issues of harassment especially of sexual nature. So, there are many things that we are doing,” said Prof Mavima.
He said there is also a need for informal sector employees to regularise themselves so that they are protected by laws.
Prof Mavima said their regularisation will enable them to even prepare for retirement.
“The unfortunate thing about the informal sector is that the informality makes it hard to supervise what is happening. It also makes it difficult to make sure that people are protected,” he said.
“It also makes it difficult for them to put aside something for retirement. So, we need to bring as many people as possible who are in the informal sector fold so that they get registered and contribute to social security and can be protected even from abuse by employers.”
Prof Mavima said National Social Security Authority (Nssa) has started an initiative to register informal sector players so that they are in the mainstream. — @nqotshili
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