Government urged to align Labour Act to ‘business’ mantra Mr Davies Sibanda

Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THERE is a need for critical review of the country’s Labour Act to align it with the “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra, which is aimed at fostering economic development and achieving an upper middle income economy by 2030.

Institute of People Management of Zimbabwe (IPMZ) president Mrs Precious Nyika said this on Friday in a speech read on her behalf by the institute’s vice president Mr Philimon Chitagu at an annual labour briefing.

Under President Mnangagwa, the country has adopted the “Zimbabwe is open for business” thrust with a view to attracting investment from across the globe through re-engagement with the rest of the world.

For close to two decades, Zimbabwe has suffered isolation by the international community after it embarked on the Land Reform programme meant to equitably distribute the country’s finite resource.

“We are all aware that we have a new mantra that Zimbabwe is open for business and that the country will be an upper middle income economy by 2030. The realisation of that dream cannot happen without people. In this regard, human resources play a pivotal role in designing systems and practices that transform the country towards the envisaged 2030 vision and that also means lobbying for amenable labour laws,” said Mrs Nyika.

The annual labour briefing, which was organised by IPMZ, was attended by human resources practitioners from companies in Matabeleland region and the Midlands province.

The event ran under the theme, “New dispensation, flexible labour laws”.

Mrs Nyika noted that flexible labour laws would not come on a silver platter and called upon human resources practitioners in the public and private sectors to come up with innovative ways that improve the generality of the economy.

She said as the country’s vision has already been enunciated, the onus was now upon the human resources practitioners to play their part in ensuring organisations have the right skills at any given point.

“We are highly educated as a country but the level of skills for specific areas requires some improvement. The challenge facing human resources practitioners today is whether or not we are indeed open for such business as human resources professionals and what it really means to be open for business,” she said.

Mrs Nyika said as Zimbabwe moves towards achieving an upper middle income economy it was imperative to introspect by redefining human resources thinking and designing sustainable compensation models given the operating environment.

“Key issues we need to introspect as we race towards the vision are: critical review of the labour laws to align with new dispensation thinking and encouraging investor confidence in the system; radical solutions, some of which will be painful. Several countries went through such pain,” she said.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare represented by Mr Gaylard Mutsvairo, said given the prevailing economic climate, Government has adopted the Transitional Stabilisation Plan.

“As a Ministry, we remain steadfast in our belief that dialogue is key. We are currently engaged in the process of labour law reform where the intention is to promulgate labour laws, which are in tandem with international best practices while at the same time attending to local legal, operational and implementation issues,” said the ministry.

Bulawayo-based labour expert Mr Davies Sibanda also said Zimbabwe’s current Labour Act needs to be transformed so that it becomes an enabling tool in doing business.

“If Zimbabwe is open for business, there is no room for somebody to sleep on the steering wheel and promulgate labour legislation, which is outdated. As a nation I think we need to do self introspection and say what is it that we need to look at.

— @okazunga

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