NRZ struggles to trim workforce

the civil service.

NRZ acting director of marketing (Bulawayo) Mrs Elector Mafunga told participants at a Competition and Tariff Commission/World Bank workshop in Vumba recently that legal implications prevented them from retrenching.
“We are, however, trying other strategies to rationalise our staff, especially by not automatically filling positions that fall vacant,” she said.
Apparently, Section 12C of the Labour Act makes it very difficult for companies to retrench.

The NRZ’s infrastructure side has taken a huge knock over the past decade as a result of lack of adequate funding.
For instance, the African Development Bank noted in its Zimbabwe Infrastructure Report 2011 that the deterioration of the NRZ’s track infrastructure, signalling and telecommunication systems was due to lack of regular repairs and maintenance resulting from financial constraints.

Zimbabwe’s railway network connects all major mines and heavy industrial plants, as well as major collection points for farms. It is also at the centre of the international rail routes linking the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to Botswana, Mozambique and its ports of Beira and Maputo, and South Africa and ports of Durban, Richards Bay and Port Elizabeth.

However, much of the 3 077km-long rail network requires upgrading to improve efficiency.
Mrs Mafunga, however, said that the Development Bank of South Africa had since approved funds for a feasibility study on the NRZ, which will assist in the development of a strategy on the way forward for the parastatal.

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce economist Mr Kipson Gundani said that the best solution to NRZ’s woes was to open it up to external investors.
“In view of the extensive funding requirements needed to refurbish the NRZ’s infrastructure and stock, it is necessary to bring in foreign investors that can effectively capitalise the business,” he said.

The Government is in the process of reviewing the regulatory framework for railways, which is expected to result in the establishment of a separate regulatory authority for the sector and its opening up to new players.
Observers have noted that the absence of a separate regulator for the sector has contributed to the deterioration of the country’s railway system due to the monopoly status of the NRZ.