The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) has fired over 100 employees, including nine senior managers, while the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) is reportedly processing dismissal letters for an additional 850 employees.
BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA
As parastatals and state enterprises take advantage of the Supreme Court labour ruling allowing employers to fire workers by simply giving them three months notices, Zinara said it had no option but to send workers packing. Zinara chairman Albert Mugabe yesterday said the move would leave the road authority in a better financial position.
“We did not have an option. The money we are receiving is public funds and that intended revenue has to go to its recipient. Whatever costs we keep must be balanced,” Mugabe said while refusing to divulge the number of affected workers.
“It is an issue of restructuring administration and the human resources component, in as much as there were people laid off, it was a last resort.”
While one Zinara board member said 49 workers had been sent packing, one manager said well over 100 had been given termination letters on Friday.
“Zinara board members who sit on the finance sub-committee are the ones who called for the downsizing of employees. But this is wrong as the human resources committee was supposed to lead such a process,” said an affected worker.
Another affected worker claimed it was mostly former Zimra employees who moved over to the country’s road administrator who were targeted because they were vocal.
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He said Zinara employees had benefitted from a $4 million housing project bankrolled by a local bank and expressed fear they would not be able to repay the loans.
NRZ also fired 355 workers last week and closed the Inspectorate Services and Research and Design and Development sections amid reports that up to 1 200 employees will have their employment contracts terminated by the end of this week. NRZ spokesperson, Fanuel Masikati yesterday said the parastatal was not yet ready to say much about the issue.
