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Minister Prisca Mupfumira

Felex Share Harare Bureau
EMPLOYERS should not cry foul as they were arrogant and boycotted the crisis meetings the government convened to amend the Labour Act, Public Service, Labour and Social Services Minister Prisca Mupfumira said yesterday.

Minister Mupfumira said while the Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe was part of the Tripartite Negotiating Forum; they could not hold the government at ransom simply because the Supreme Court ruling seemed to favour them.

The government, she said, could not “fold its hands” while thousands of people were being thrown into the streets willy-nilly and had to initiate process that cushioned the ordinary worker.

EMCOZ yesterday tried to taint the Labour Amendment Bill that sailed through Senate yesterday, saying none of their contributions were captured.

“They want to be cry-babies yet they were arrogant and boycotted a process which they had long been part of,” she said.

“After the Supreme Court ruling, a TNF was convened and their leader said if no representative came he would come, but no one came.

“The permanent secretary even tried all he could to ensure they come and make contributions, but they played hide and seek with government and in the end government had to proceed to cushion the workers and at the same time create a win-win situation between the employee and the employer.”

Minister Mupfumira added: “They should not cry foul because they have been part of the process until the ruling when they thought they were on the winning side.

“They had the Draft Bill in their hands, just like the employees, and they asked for time to consult and had agreed to come back by on July 22, but when the Supreme Court ruling came out they were nowhere to be seen.

“Faced with such a scenario, government could not stop the process because it has a duty to discharge to the people of Zimbabwe.”

EMCOZ is made up of the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe, Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Mines, Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union, Zimbabwe Farmers Union and Zimbabwe Council for Tourism.

The body threatened that by ignoring their contributions, the government would see the country’s economy further deteriorating.

Minister Mupfumira said the government would continue looking at proposals from stakeholders in the spirit of tripartism.

“TNF meetings will continue to be convened and we will continue looking at various ways of improving our situation,” she said.

“We can’t have laws that tyrannise our people and at the same time we donot want to have laws that oppress our employees and that is why we moved in to ensure there is sanity in the labour market.”

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions also tried to drop out of the TNF at the last minute despite being part of the team that came up with the Draft Bill.

The labour body tried to incite people to take to the streets, but there were no takers for the move.