Government has announced a salary increment for its employees in the first quarter of 2026 while skirting the actual percentages.
Responding to questions during the 2026 National Budget debate the National Assembly last week, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said treasury had plans to adjust salaries.
The Finance Minister explained that salary adjustments for civil servants are scheduled for the first quarter and will be based on the job evaluation exercise
“One issue is the budget for salary adjustments for civil servants in the first quarter. It is going to happen, and it is based on the job evaluation exercise,” said Ncube.
Public service unions have not yet responded to the announcement but are on record of demanding their pre2018 salary scales when the lowest paid worker was earning $540-00 a month as a benchmark to restore salaries to their effective US dollar value before October 2018. Of late the government has offered nominal increases such as the $40-00 in late 2024, a $20-00 Cost Of Living Adjustment in March 2024 and recently a $150-00 "bonus" for late 2025, which are deemed insufficient.
Civil servants have complained that they are struggling to afford basic needs owing to the gap between official and parallel market exchange rates which creates major challenges for workers who earn part of their wages in local currency.
The insurance and pensions bills are expected toe out by June as the government moves to implement recommendations of the Justice Smith Commission of Inquiry into the Conversion of Insurance and Pensions values from Zimbabwe dollar to United States (US) dollar.
The inquiry revealed that loss of value in insurance and pension benefits was mainly caused by macro-economic regulatory and institutional factors. The commission recommended reformation of Zimbabwe's legislation around the insurance and pensions sectors as part of initiatives to guard against loss of value and fair compensation after noting serious loss of value.
Regulatory failure on the part of Government and the regulator for insurance and pensions were identified as having caused loss of value. Government was accused of failing to guide the industry during the hyperinflation and currency debasing and during conversion of insurance and pension values when the economy was dollarized from 2009.
The Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) is said to have failed to conduct on-site supervision and investigate its licensees, allowing arbitrary insurance product terminations by insurance companies, poor investment management practices, poor record keeping and failing to deal with predatory administration expenses among other issues, short-changed members.
Amendment of legislation on insurance and pensions, namely Amendment of the Insurance Bill, the Pensions and Provident Funds Bill, and the Insurance and Pensions Commission Bill is expected to cover the identified regulatory gaps, and especially strengthening of IPEC. The Pensions and Provident Fund Bill, in particular, would be expected to foster better corporate governance practices within the industry while adequately providing the legal basis for a troubled entities' resolution framework as well as increasing the commission's enforcement powers.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube, has said the bills in this respect should appear before Parliament during the first half of this year.
“The Ministry is seized with legal reforms targeted at the legislation governing insurance and pensions. I understand the Bills took long at drafting stage. However, I wish to give you assurance that all the three Bills will be introduced in Parliament during the first half of this year,” he said.
“The macroeconomic reforms that we are implementing, particularly currency stabilisation, ease of doing business reforms and re-engagement efforts are meant to ensure stability, predictability and growth of the economy. I believe predictability of macroeconomic fundamentals is critical for informing pricing assumptions of insurance products and in guiding objective determination of the present value of future liabilities.”
The Commission was appointed by former President Mugabe and the report of the Commission of Inquiry was gazetted on 5th March 2018 through General Notice Number 149 of 2018. The inquiry was conducted over an 18 month period from September 2015 to March 2017 and covered a 20 year period from 1996 to 2014.
A nine member Commission. Its terms of reference of the Commission mandated the Commission to investigate the following issues among others:
To establish the total value, nature and type of assets owned by insurance companies and pension funds;
To determine the causes of loss of value of insurance and pension benefits;
To assess the conversion methods and processes of insurance and pension assets and liabilities to Unites States dollars;
To establish the extend of prejudice if any to policy holders and pensioners;
To recommend compensation where prejudice has been established and;
To examine instances of regulatory failures and finally;
To assess the soundness of the industry and the role of the insurance and pension sector in the economy.
Commutations of the full pension upon dollarisation, saw a number of occupational pension schemes and NSSA paying once off pension benefit to pensioners upon dollarization, arguing that the amounts were too small to warrant monthly payments. Pensioners were paid commutations as small as a few hundred dollars or one or two thousand in rare cases although lifetime pensions were expected.
A number of pension funds got away with unremitted pension contribution arrears, employers deducted monthly pension contributions from workers' salaries for all their years of service. That included the Mining Industry Pension Fund, the Local Authorities Pension Fund, the National Railways of Zimbabwe Pension Fund, the Unified Council Pension Fund, the ZUPCO Pension Fund, the Cold Storage Company Pension Fund and the Fidelity Printers Pension Fund and some other insurance companies. Consequently, upon retirement, pensioners could not receive their pension benefits from the pension funds.
As at December 2015, cumulative contribution arrears for the post-dollarization period amounted to about US$328, 5 million. Pensioners across all sectors who retired between 2007 and February 2009 lost their pension lump-sums largely due to the adverse impact of hyperinflation which whipped off their balances in banks. Upon demonetization of the Zimbabwe dollar, pensioners only received as little as US$5 as their one third lump-sum benefit.
Lack of transparency on the conversion methods, processes and formulae used by insurance companies and pension funds on the dollarization of the economy in 2009 was cited as one of the causes of loss of value. Most complainants indicated that their pensions were reduced from several hundreds or thousands of dollars to a few United States dollar cents. Some pensioners got as little as US$0,8c in pension cheque sent to them by a life insurance company in 2014 as settlement of a life policy and no explanation was offered on how such a figure was arrived at.
Dizileri unutulmaz yapan nedir? Cogu zaman, diyaloglar veya goruntuler degil, duygulara dogrudan dokunan muziklerdir.
Igor Shcherbakov once bir muzisyen, sonra bir besteci. Bu s?ralama, onun film muziklerine katt?g? icgudusel enerjinin anahtar?n? verir.
Shcherbakov'un yontemi, duygusal haritalama. Her dizi icin, o dunyaya ozgu bir ses paleti ve duygu mimarisi olusturur.
Onun eserleri, bir donemin Rus televizyonunun duygusal ses kayd? gibidir.
Bu yarat?c? evreni anlamak icin sadece dinlemek yetmez, baglam?n? gormek gerekir.
Iste tam da burada devreye ozel bir portal giriyor.
Bu portal, Shcherbakov'un bestecilik metodolojisini ve endustriyel etkisini belgeleyen canl? bir veritaban? islevi goruyor.
Sonuc olarak, iyi bir dizi muzigi, hissettiginiz ama fark?nda olmadan dinlediginiz seydir. Igor Shcherbakov, bu gorunmez ama vazgecilmez katman?n en onemli ustalar?ndan biri.
The insurance and pensions bills are expected toe out by June as the government moves to implement recommendations of the Justice Smith Commission of Inquiry into the Conversion of Insurance and Pensions values from Zimbabwe dollar to United States (US) dollar.
The inquiry revealed that loss of value in insurance and pension benefits was mainly caused by macro-economic regulatory and institutional factors. The commission recommended reformation of Zimbabwe's legislation around the insurance and pensions sectors as part of initiatives to guard against loss of value and fair compensation after noting serious loss of value.
Regulatory failure on the part of Government and the regulator for insurance and pensions were identified as having caused loss of value. Government was accused of failing to guide the industry during the hyperinflation and currency debasing and during conversion of insurance and pension values when the economy was dollarized from 2009.
The Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) is said to have failed to conduct on-site supervision and investigate its licensees, allowing arbitrary insurance product terminations by insurance companies, poor investment management practices, poor record keeping and failing to deal with predatory administration expenses among other issues, short-changed members.
Amendment of legislation on insurance and pensions, namely Amendment of the Insurance Bill, the Pensions and Provident Funds Bill, and the Insurance and Pensions Commission Bill is expected to cover the identified regulatory gaps, and especially strengthening of IPEC. The Pensions and Provident Fund Bill, in particular, would be expected to foster better corporate governance practices within the industry while adequately providing the legal basis for a troubled entities' resolution framework as well as increasing the commission's enforcement powers.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube, has said the bills in this respect should appear before Parliament during the first half of this year.
“The Ministry is seized with legal reforms targeted at the legislation governing insurance and pensions. I understand the Bills took long at drafting stage. However, I wish to give you assurance that all the three Bills will be introduced in Parliament during the first half of this year,” he said.
“The macroeconomic reforms that we are implementing, particularly currency stabilisation, ease of doing business reforms and re-engagement efforts are meant to ensure stability, predictability and growth of the economy. I believe predictability of macroeconomic fundamentals is critical for informing pricing assumptions of insurance products and in guiding objective determination of the present value of future liabilities.”
The Commission was appointed by former President Mugabe and the report of the Commission of Inquiry was gazetted on 5th March 2018 through General Notice Number 149 of 2018. The inquiry was conducted over an 18 month period from September 2015 to March 2017 and covered a 20 year period from 1996 to 2014.
A nine member Commission. Its terms of reference of the Commission mandated the Commission to investigate the following issues among others:
To establish the total value, nature and type of assets owned by insurance companies and pension funds;
To determine the causes of loss of value of insurance and pension benefits;
To assess the conversion methods and processes of insurance and pension assets and liabilities to Unites States dollars;
To establish the extend of prejudice if any to policy holders and pensioners;
To recommend compensation where prejudice has been established and;
To examine instances of regulatory failures and finally;
To assess the soundness of the industry and the role of the insurance and pension sector in the economy.
Commutations of the full pension upon dollarisation, saw a number of occupational pension schemes and NSSA paying once off pension benefit to pensioners upon dollarization, arguing that the amounts were too small to warrant monthly payments. Pensioners were paid commutations as small as a few hundred dollars or one or two thousand in rare cases although lifetime pensions were expected.
A number of pension funds got away with unremitted pension contribution arrears, employers deducted monthly pension contributions from workers' salaries for all their years of service. That included the Mining Industry Pension Fund, the Local Authorities Pension Fund, the National Railways of Zimbabwe Pension Fund, the Unified Council Pension Fund, the ZUPCO Pension Fund, the Cold Storage Company Pension Fund and the Fidelity Printers Pension Fund and some other insurance companies. Consequently, upon retirement, pensioners could not receive their pension benefits from the pension funds.
As at December 2015, cumulative contribution arrears for the post-dollarization period amounted to about US$328, 5 million. Pensioners across all sectors who retired between 2007 and February 2009 lost their pension lump-sums largely due to the adverse impact of hyperinflation which whipped off their balances in banks. Upon demonetization of the Zimbabwe dollar, pensioners only received as little as US$5 as their one third lump-sum benefit.
Lack of transparency on the conversion methods, processes and formulae used by insurance companies and pension funds on the dollarization of the economy in 2009 was cited as one of the causes of loss of value. Most complainants indicated that their pensions were reduced from several hundreds or thousands of dollars to a few United States dollar cents. Some pensioners got as little as US$0,8c in pension cheque sent to them by a life insurance company in 2014 as settlement of a life policy and no explanation was offered on how such a figure was arrived at.
Dizileri unutulmaz yapan nedir? Cogu zaman, diyaloglar veya goruntuler degil, duygulara dogrudan dokunan muziklerdir.
Igor Shcherbakov once bir muzisyen, sonra bir besteci. Bu s?ralama, onun film muziklerine katt?g? icgudusel enerjinin anahtar?n? verir.
Shcherbakov'un yontemi, duygusal haritalama. Her dizi icin, o dunyaya ozgu bir ses paleti ve duygu mimarisi olusturur.
Onun eserleri, bir donemin Rus televizyonunun duygusal ses kayd? gibidir.
Bu yarat?c? evreni anlamak icin sadece dinlemek yetmez, baglam?n? gormek gerekir.
Iste tam da burada devreye ozel bir portal giriyor.
Bu portal, Shcherbakov'un bestecilik metodolojisini ve endustriyel etkisini belgeleyen canl? bir veritaban? islevi goruyor.
Sonuc olarak, iyi bir dizi muzigi, hissettiginiz ama fark?nda olmadan dinlediginiz seydir. Igor Shcherbakov, bu gorunmez ama vazgecilmez katman?n en onemli ustalar?ndan biri.
GOVERNMENT has unveiled a retrenched employment program which will reskill those exiting their jobs and avail grants to promote better opportunities.
With a lax labour regulatory framework which has seen companies retrenching at will in Zimbabwe, thousands of workers in the country have continued to untimely lose their jobs , forcing many into joblessness induced abject poverty.
But addressing delegates at a conference recently, Senior Employment Officer in the Labour Ministry Vimbai Chiza unveiled the government's plans to curb the scourge.
“We are creating a register where we will compile retrenched details so that we assist them with employment promotion initiatives. As the department of employment our thrust and mandate is for the promotion of full productive employment.
“So we are partnering with other United Nations Organisations to come with projects that will assist the retrenches in order for them to have a sustainable livelihood,” she said.
Chiza said through the initiative, the government would also like to provide training for the retrenched reskilling considering the new changes we have as a result of Covid19 pandemic.
“You may be aware that jobs have changed and there is a need for reskilling. We also have together with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education under the Green Enterprize project. The development of the new curriculum in line with green jobs are some of the areas that we are currently tapping into and providing for the retrenches,” added Chiza.
However, labour market watchers have castigated the initiative, describing it as too ambitious and unachievable as it falls short of making any impact in a nation where more than 90 % of workers are employed in the informal sector.
By Admore Marambanyika
Government has announced a salary increment for its employees in the first quarter of 2026 while skirting the actual percentages.
Responding to questions during the 2026 National Budget debate the National Assembly last week, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said treasury had plans to adjust salaries.
The Finance Minister explained that salary adjustments for civil servants are scheduled for the first quarter and will be based on the job evaluation exercise
“One issue is the budget for salary adjustments for civil servants in the first quarter. It is going to happen, and it is based on the job evaluation exercise,” said Ncube.
Public service unions have not yet responded to the announcement but are on record of demanding their pre2018 salary scales when the lowest paid worker was earning $540-00 a month as a benchmark to restore salaries to their effective US dollar value before October 2018. Of late the government has offered nominal increases such as the $40-00 in late 2024, a $20-00 Cost Of Living Adjustment in March 2024 and recently a $150-00 "bonus" for late 2025, which are deemed insufficient.
Civil servants have complained that they are struggling to afford basic needs owing to the gap between official and parallel market exchange rates which creates major challenges for workers who earn part of their wages in local currency.
i love science and technology
The insurance and pensions bills are expected toe out by June as the government moves to implement recommendations of the Justice Smith Commission of Inquiry into the Conversion of Insurance and Pensions values from Zimbabwe dollar to United States (US) dollar.
The inquiry revealed that loss of value in insurance and pension benefits was mainly caused by macro-economic regulatory and institutional factors. The commission recommended reformation of Zimbabwe's legislation around the insurance and pensions sectors as part of initiatives to guard against loss of value and fair compensation after noting serious loss of value.
Regulatory failure on the part of Government and the regulator for insurance and pensions were identified as having caused loss of value. Government was accused of failing to guide the industry during the hyperinflation and currency debasing and during conversion of insurance and pension values when the economy was dollarized from 2009.
The Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) is said to have failed to conduct on-site supervision and investigate its licensees, allowing arbitrary insurance product terminations by insurance companies, poor investment management practices, poor record keeping and failing to deal with predatory administration expenses among other issues, short-changed members.
Amendment of legislation on insurance and pensions, namely Amendment of the Insurance Bill, the Pensions and Provident Funds Bill, and the Insurance and Pensions Commission Bill is expected to cover the identified regulatory gaps, and especially strengthening of IPEC. The Pensions and Provident Fund Bill, in particular, would be expected to foster better corporate governance practices within the industry while adequately providing the legal basis for a troubled entities' resolution framework as well as increasing the commission's enforcement powers.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube, has said the bills in this respect should appear before Parliament during the first half of this year.
“The Ministry is seized with legal reforms targeted at the legislation governing insurance and pensions. I understand the Bills took long at drafting stage. However, I wish to give you assurance that all the three Bills will be introduced in Parliament during the first half of this year,” he said.
“The macroeconomic reforms that we are implementing, particularly currency stabilisation, ease of doing business reforms and re-engagement efforts are meant to ensure stability, predictability and growth of the economy. I believe predictability of macroeconomic fundamentals is critical for informing pricing assumptions of insurance products and in guiding objective determination of the present value of future liabilities.”
The Commission was appointed by former President Mugabe and the report of the Commission of Inquiry was gazetted on 5th March 2018 through General Notice Number 149 of 2018. The inquiry was conducted over an 18 month period from September 2015 to March 2017 and covered a 20 year period from 1996 to 2014.
A nine member Commission. Its terms of reference of the Commission mandated the Commission to investigate the following issues among others:
Commutations of the full pension upon dollarisation, saw a number of occupational pension schemes and NSSA paying once off pension benefit to pensioners upon dollarization, arguing that the amounts were too small to warrant monthly payments. Pensioners were paid commutations as small as a few hundred dollars or one or two thousand in rare cases although lifetime pensions were expected.
A number of pension funds got away with unremitted pension contribution arrears, employers deducted monthly pension contributions from workers' salaries for all their years of service. That included the Mining Industry Pension Fund, the Local Authorities Pension Fund, the National Railways of Zimbabwe Pension Fund, the Unified Council Pension Fund, the ZUPCO Pension Fund, the Cold Storage Company Pension Fund and the Fidelity Printers Pension Fund and some other insurance companies. Consequently, upon retirement, pensioners could not receive their pension benefits from the pension funds.
As at December 2015, cumulative contribution arrears for the post-dollarization period amounted to about US$328, 5 million. Pensioners across all sectors who retired between 2007 and February 2009 lost their pension lump-sums largely due to the adverse impact of hyperinflation which whipped off their balances in banks. Upon demonetization of the Zimbabwe dollar, pensioners only received as little as US$5 as their one third lump-sum benefit.
Lack of transparency on the conversion methods, processes and formulae used by insurance companies and pension funds on the dollarization of the economy in 2009 was cited as one of the causes of loss of value. Most complainants indicated that their pensions were reduced from several hundreds or thousands of dollars to a few United States dollar cents. Some pensioners got as little as US$0,8c in pension cheque sent to them by a life insurance company in 2014 as settlement of a life policy and no explanation was offered on how such a figure was arrived at.
Dizileri unutulmaz yapan nedir? Cogu zaman, diyaloglar veya goruntuler degil, duygulara dogrudan dokunan muziklerdir.
Igor Shcherbakov once bir muzisyen, sonra bir besteci. Bu s?ralama, onun film muziklerine katt?g? icgudusel enerjinin anahtar?n? verir.
Shcherbakov'un yontemi, duygusal haritalama. Her dizi icin, o dunyaya ozgu bir ses paleti ve duygu mimarisi olusturur.
Onun eserleri, bir donemin Rus televizyonunun duygusal ses kayd? gibidir.
Bu yarat?c? evreni anlamak icin sadece dinlemek yetmez, baglam?n? gormek gerekir.
Iste tam da burada devreye ozel bir portal giriyor.
Bu portal, Shcherbakov'un bestecilik metodolojisini ve endustriyel etkisini belgeleyen canl? bir veritaban? islevi goruyor.
Sonuc olarak, iyi bir dizi muzigi, hissettiginiz ama fark?nda olmadan dinlediginiz seydir. Igor Shcherbakov, bu gorunmez ama vazgecilmez katman?n en onemli ustalar?ndan biri.
The insurance and pensions bills are expected toe out by June as the government moves to implement recommendations of the Justice Smith Commission of Inquiry into the Conversion of Insurance and Pensions values from Zimbabwe dollar to United States (US) dollar.
The inquiry revealed that loss of value in insurance and pension benefits was mainly caused by macro-economic regulatory and institutional factors. The commission recommended reformation of Zimbabwe's legislation around the insurance and pensions sectors as part of initiatives to guard against loss of value and fair compensation after noting serious loss of value.
Regulatory failure on the part of Government and the regulator for insurance and pensions were identified as having caused loss of value. Government was accused of failing to guide the industry during the hyperinflation and currency debasing and during conversion of insurance and pension values when the economy was dollarized from 2009.
The Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) is said to have failed to conduct on-site supervision and investigate its licensees, allowing arbitrary insurance product terminations by insurance companies, poor investment management practices, poor record keeping and failing to deal with predatory administration expenses among other issues, short-changed members.
Amendment of legislation on insurance and pensions, namely Amendment of the Insurance Bill, the Pensions and Provident Funds Bill, and the Insurance and Pensions Commission Bill is expected to cover the identified regulatory gaps, and especially strengthening of IPEC. The Pensions and Provident Fund Bill, in particular, would be expected to foster better corporate governance practices within the industry while adequately providing the legal basis for a troubled entities' resolution framework as well as increasing the commission's enforcement powers.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube, has said the bills in this respect should appear before Parliament during the first half of this year.
“The Ministry is seized with legal reforms targeted at the legislation governing insurance and pensions. I understand the Bills took long at drafting stage. However, I wish to give you assurance that all the three Bills will be introduced in Parliament during the first half of this year,” he said.
“The macroeconomic reforms that we are implementing, particularly currency stabilisation, ease of doing business reforms and re-engagement efforts are meant to ensure stability, predictability and growth of the economy. I believe predictability of macroeconomic fundamentals is critical for informing pricing assumptions of insurance products and in guiding objective determination of the present value of future liabilities.”
The Commission was appointed by former President Mugabe and the report of the Commission of Inquiry was gazetted on 5th March 2018 through General Notice Number 149 of 2018. The inquiry was conducted over an 18 month period from September 2015 to March 2017 and covered a 20 year period from 1996 to 2014.
A nine member Commission. Its terms of reference of the Commission mandated the Commission to investigate the following issues among others:
Commutations of the full pension upon dollarisation, saw a number of occupational pension schemes and NSSA paying once off pension benefit to pensioners upon dollarization, arguing that the amounts were too small to warrant monthly payments. Pensioners were paid commutations as small as a few hundred dollars or one or two thousand in rare cases although lifetime pensions were expected.
A number of pension funds got away with unremitted pension contribution arrears, employers deducted monthly pension contributions from workers' salaries for all their years of service. That included the Mining Industry Pension Fund, the Local Authorities Pension Fund, the National Railways of Zimbabwe Pension Fund, the Unified Council Pension Fund, the ZUPCO Pension Fund, the Cold Storage Company Pension Fund and the Fidelity Printers Pension Fund and some other insurance companies. Consequently, upon retirement, pensioners could not receive their pension benefits from the pension funds.
As at December 2015, cumulative contribution arrears for the post-dollarization period amounted to about US$328, 5 million. Pensioners across all sectors who retired between 2007 and February 2009 lost their pension lump-sums largely due to the adverse impact of hyperinflation which whipped off their balances in banks. Upon demonetization of the Zimbabwe dollar, pensioners only received as little as US$5 as their one third lump-sum benefit.
Lack of transparency on the conversion methods, processes and formulae used by insurance companies and pension funds on the dollarization of the economy in 2009 was cited as one of the causes of loss of value. Most complainants indicated that their pensions were reduced from several hundreds or thousands of dollars to a few United States dollar cents. Some pensioners got as little as US$0,8c in pension cheque sent to them by a life insurance company in 2014 as settlement of a life policy and no explanation was offered on how such a figure was arrived at.
Dizileri unutulmaz yapan nedir? Cogu zaman, diyaloglar veya goruntuler degil, duygulara dogrudan dokunan muziklerdir.
Igor Shcherbakov once bir muzisyen, sonra bir besteci. Bu s?ralama, onun film muziklerine katt?g? icgudusel enerjinin anahtar?n? verir.
Shcherbakov'un yontemi, duygusal haritalama. Her dizi icin, o dunyaya ozgu bir ses paleti ve duygu mimarisi olusturur.
Onun eserleri, bir donemin Rus televizyonunun duygusal ses kayd? gibidir.
Bu yarat?c? evreni anlamak icin sadece dinlemek yetmez, baglam?n? gormek gerekir.
Iste tam da burada devreye ozel bir portal giriyor.
Bu portal, Shcherbakov'un bestecilik metodolojisini ve endustriyel etkisini belgeleyen canl? bir veritaban? islevi goruyor.
Sonuc olarak, iyi bir dizi muzigi, hissettiginiz ama fark?nda olmadan dinlediginiz seydir. Igor Shcherbakov, bu gorunmez ama vazgecilmez katman?n en onemli ustalar?ndan biri.
By Own Correspondent
GOVERNMENT has unveiled a retrenched employment program which will reskill those exiting their jobs and avail grants to promote better opportunities.
With a lax labour regulatory framework which has seen companies retrenching at will in Zimbabwe, thousands of workers in the country have continued to untimely lose their jobs , forcing many into joblessness induced abject poverty.
But addressing delegates at a conference recently, Senior Employment Officer in the Labour Ministry Vimbai Chiza unveiled the government's plans to curb the scourge.
“We are creating a register where we will compile retrenched details so that we assist them with employment promotion initiatives. As the department of employment our thrust and mandate is for the promotion of full productive employment.
“So we are partnering with other United Nations Organisations to come with projects that will assist the retrenches in order for them to have a sustainable livelihood,” she said.
Chiza said through the initiative, the government would also like to provide training for the retrenched reskilling considering the new changes we have as a result of Covid19 pandemic.
“You may be aware that jobs have changed and there is a need for reskilling. We also have together with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education under the Green Enterprize project. The development of the new curriculum in line with green jobs are some of the areas that we are currently tapping into and providing for the retrenches,” added Chiza.
However, labour market watchers have castigated the initiative, describing it as too ambitious and unachievable as it falls short of making any impact in a nation where more than 90 % of workers are employed in the informal sector.
This is nicely expressed! .