Madhuku backs Mugabe's labour law for no better reason than opportunistic one!

The National Constitution Assembly (NCA) led Professor Lovemore Madhuku has come out with guns blazing in support of Mugabe’s proposed Labour Amendment Bill; sadly the NCA is shooting from the hip and thus a danger to the very people the party is hoping to help!

The bill is proposing that all the worked laid off since 17 July 2015 following the Supreme Court ruling that employers can lay-off workers with three months’ wage, terminal benefits be paid a month’s wage for every two years services. NCA is proposing the terminal benefits be extended to workers laid off before 17 July 2015 all the way back to 1980 and the benefits be one month’s wage for every year of service.

“The NCA party therefore calls upon Parliament to play its role responsibly by ensuring that the new law applies not only for the future but also remedial of the irresponsible behavior by the employers as witnessed in the past four weeks,” argued NCA.

“We believe that if the law is applied for the future only it will be unconstitutional and unfair discrimination against those who were unfairly dismissed

This is so because since 1980 there was no termination on notice until 17 July 2015 when the Supreme Court ruling was given.”

The bill is also proposing that employers should not be able to lay-off workers without the worker’s agreement unless there are good reasons for doing so. The spirit of the bill is to “stop the rot” that had resulted in 20 000 workers being laid-off since the 17 th July 2015 ruling. In other words laying off workers because of the economic downturn will not be considered a good reason. NCA concurs with this proposal.

Zimbabwe is facing a very serious economic crisis; companies have been closing down right, left and centre sending unemployment soaring into the stratosphere of 90% plus, 76% of our people are now living on less than $200 per month and two million of them are living in abject poverty, etc. There are two questions demanding answers.

The first question; is this proposed law in the national interest? Companies have been closing down because they are facing real and serious economic hardships and if allowing them to lay-off workers will stop more companies closing down then that is better option because it is a lot easier to rebuild a company than reviving one that has closed.

No employer would set out to lay-off an employee out of spite as is being suggested here, if there is malicious intend then it is by the regime that has failed to address the underlying causes of the economic meltdown and are now seeking cheap brownie points by turning the employers into the villains.

The second, but by far the most important and urgent, question: what are the underlying causes of the economic meltdown and what steps can be taken to address them without further delay.

Once the economic situation is under control, there must be a thorough judiciary/parliamentary inquiry to establish why the situation was allowed to get this bad. There is no doubt that there has been serious dereliction of duty and those responsible must be held to account and measures must be taken to ensure that this sorry situation never happen ever again.

According to Madock Chivasa, NCA was supporting the proposed bill “in line with the need for social justice and protecting thousands of families who are being subjected to poverty.” Yes demanding the retrospective application of this law to 1980 will see many, many families pulled out of abject poverty if their previous employers are still in business, which is doubtful given the many companies that have closed down, and if they are will have the money to pay the generous packages NCA is proposing.

The whole bill is in fact a throw-back of Zanu PF’s socialist days when the regime would announce hefty wage increases for the workers regardless of the employers’ ability to pay. All these socialist policies did was to lay the fountain of the nation’s economic decline.

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest,” said the Scottish Economist Adam Smith near 300 years ago. It was true then it is true now and after 35 years of trying to buck the simple tried and tested rules of economics and failing dismally the last thing the nation want to do is go through yet another cycle of socialism experimentation.

Beside the problem of mismanagement and corruption Zimbabwe is rated a High Risk country to do business in because of the country’s obnoxious indigenisation laws. It this proposed bill is passed then it will constitute yet another obnoxious law would-be investors will find unworkable.

The proposed bill seeks to punish employers but in effect punish the 90% plus unemployed today becomes they will never be employed – no employer would want to employ them and be punished for doing so!