Chronicle Editor
Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
SOCIAL partners in the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) have been commended for complementing Government efforts to fight the spread of Covid-19 by donating funds, personal protective equipment and rehabilitating hospitals across the country.
Government, business and labour make up the TNF.
The TNF came up with recommendations for the private sector to assist Government to fight the spread of Covid-19, a development that has seen companies such as Unki Mines, Mimosa Mine, Sakunda, among others availing resources to the health sector.
In an interview after touring Unki Mine in Shurugwi on Thursday, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Professor Paul Mavima, who also chairs the TNF, said Government, business and labour were working together to fight the spread of Covid-19.
“I am happy that most programmes to fight the spread as well mitigate the effects of Covid-19 have emanated from the TNF.
“When this disease started spreading across the world, we were probably the first ones to meet and say what do we do as a nation and we came up with recommendations that I took to Cabinet.
“A lot of our recommendations adopted by Cabinet were reflected in the subsequent pronouncements that were made by His Excellency President Mnangagwa,” he said.
Prof Mavima said the country has witnessed progressive implementation of Covid-19 programmes since the virus was declared a national disaster by President Mnangagwa at the end of March.
“We have seen more and more of our recommendations being implemented and we are therefore very grateful to his Excellency for listening to us as TNF and for taking on board the recommendations of the social partners,” he said.
The Minister said the visit to Unki Mine and other companies in the Midlands province is part of checking compliance to rules and regulations of the Level Two lockdown.
“We know that companies like Unki Mine have the capacity to enforce safety measures that are directly in response to Covid-19. So our visit to Unki has been both to see the compliance side and also to see the benchmark and say how do others compare to Unki Mine. Unki Mine has even donated PPE to the national cause at both national and provincial level,” he said.
Prof Mavima was accompanied by officials from the National Social Security Authority (Nssa), National Mining Workers Union of Zimbabwe, (NMWZ), Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) and Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU).
ZFTU secretary general Mr Kennias Shamuyarira said they were proud with the way Government has been responding to Covid-19 threat and measures being taken to protect the employees against the virus.
“We are happy to notice that our recommendations from TNF get to President Mnangagwa. We therefore salute Prof Mavima for listening to the social partners.
“We need this spirit of working together in pushing the national agenda of empowerment that benefits all the social partners,” he said.
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