Unions out of step with Zim reform
ZIMBABWE may have only started implementing the economic reform measures that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants addressed to enable it to start considering making further financial advancements to the country, but trade unions are already consulting on the next course of action – the scrapping of bonus payments for civil servants this week.
The announcement comes on the back of a state visit to South Africa by President Robert Mugabe and a team of cabinet ministers, as well as business executives in what is widely reported to have been a trip to seek financial and investment aid from Africa’s second largest economy. Mugabe hinted at a softening of the stance in his government’s bid to empower local black citizens, saying the government expected only foreign mining companies to cede 51 percent of shares under the indigenisation policy.
Mugabe also said the government was open to partnerships. Other sectors, such as those where investors would have to bring in specialist equipment to manufacture goods and products Zimbabwe did not already have, would be subject to negotiation.
“It’s a step largely in the right direction. Clarity is what has always been lacking on indigenisation and after the IMF called for clarity, the government is making strides to address that and the hope is that this will send the right signal and help unlock capital and other investments,” a top Zimbabwean cabinet minister said yesterday.
Now, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa has also announced the shelving of bonus payments for government workers, a move largely seen by economists and other experts as part of measures aimed at reducing government expenditure on the public wage bill. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has already advised against salary increases in the crisis hit, but mineral rich country.
“The constrained economic activity has resulted in a shrinking tax base and depressed cash-flow. The government has decided to suspend bonus payments to the civil servants in 2015 and 2016, and the situation will be reviewed in 2017 in the event that we are able to build enough capacity,” Chinamasa said on Monday evening.
However, despite being seen as a step in the right direction by economists, the move to shelve bonus payments has not gone down well with worker representative groupings in the country.