“The business model being used by government and local authorities is wrong. We cannot spend 80 percent of collected revenue to pay wages. We are in the business to see that refuse collection is done and to see that service delivery improves, not for citizens to pay huge salaries,” said Mupfumira. “As government we are equally concerned. We are in the process of saying this is wrong to pay people who spend their time sitting.”
She said the country`s labour laws were tilted in favour of workers and were not attractive to investors. “We need investors from inside and outside the country – but if the laws are negative then we will not get any,” she said.
The minister blasted employers who were not remitting their workers’ deductions to regulators such as National Social Security Authority (NSSA) and medical aids.
“We have a situation where workers are going for months without salaries but their deductions are not being remitted thereby depriving them of their benefits,” said Mupfumira.
She cited the case of one state enterprise where four top bosses advanced themselves loans leaving the company coffers empty. “You will read it in the newspapers very soon that four bosses of a certain parastatal took all the money, yet workers have gone for 19 months without salary. That`s abuse of workers,” said Mupfumira.
Mupfumira also blasted local authorities for channelling revenue collection towards salaries for top bosses at the expense of service delivery. “There is need for a serious paradigm shift in the way local authorities are conducting themselves,” she said, urging social dialogue between business and labour to reignite the country`s economy.
Mupfumira also said the current Labour Law Review seeks to introduce productivity-related remuneration.
At the same event, Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ) President, Jack Murehwa, said the 2015 budget statement by Finance minister Chinamasa was depressing as revenue collection by the fiscus is on a relentless downward spiral while government is now spending around 80 percent of its fiscal income on recurrent salaries and wages, leaving little or nothing for operational expenses.
“Government is paying civil servants to sit in their offices without the means to deliver the service they are being paid to deliver. Over 4,610 companies have closed since 2011 with the loss of 55,443 jobs from the formal sector. It cannot, indeed should not be business as usual,” said Murehwa.
According to The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries’ (CZI) “State of the Manufacturing Sector Survey” capacity utilisation in the sector, which peaked at 57, 2% in 2011, dropped to 39, 6 percent in 2013 and to 36, 3 percent in 2014.
Post published in: News