BY KUDZAI KUWAZA
THE Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) has agreed to initiate the process of developing a new social contract to address the country’s economic and political crisis.
This comes at a time when Zimbabwe’s two-decade-long economic crisis has deepened, with a debilitating liquidity crunch, foreign currency and cash shortages, low capacity utilisation and a slowdown in investment, among the biggest hurdles.
Annual inflation, at 659,4%, has also ignited fears of a prolonged slowdown.
Zimbabwe’s crisis was this year compounded by the spread of Covid-19, which forced government to roll out blanket lockdowns to prevent infection. The push for fresh discussions through the Tripartite Negotiation Forum (TNF) was among several resolutions made when Emcoz held its annual congress last month.
“Having noted the national high country risk posed by a myriad socio-economic and socio-political factors, the congress resolved to initiate the processes of developing a new social contract,” said Emcoz.
“Having noted the relevance of the Kadoma Declaration, a document that had been crafted by the social partners and launched by the former president (Robert Mugabe) and having noted the similarities in the macro environment, the congress resolved to revisit the basic tenets of the declaration and customise to the current environment and implement the same,” the resolutions noted.
The Kadoma Declaration was drafted after negotiations held in Kadoma by parties to the TNF in 2001. The parties are government, labour and business.
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The declaration identified the causes of Zimbabwe’s high country risk status and suggested measures to address the economic crisis. They also agreed to improve the country’s image. The aim was to come up with a binding social contract.
However, the social contract remains a pipe dream even after the TNF was legislated last year.
Parties to the TNF are worried that until now, it has no secretariat in place.
Attempts at coming up with a social contract have been affected by frequent changes of Labour ministers.
Incumbent Paul Mavima is the third minister to be appointed to the Labour portfolio since President Emmerson Mnangagwa took over from the late Mugabe in 2017. The International Labour Organisation’s country director for Zimbabwe and Namibia, Hopolang Phororo, told Standardbusiness early this year that she was concerned by the slow pace of progress.
“I think the progress has been slow. The body (TNF) was legislated in June and six months later…we have had…one TNF meeting in which the principals are involved. I think that is a bit slow,” Phororo said.
“I think what we should do is to give the TNF a chance.”
Emcoz also resolved that there was need to incorporate the changes brought about by the coronavirus pandemic in the Labour Act, which is in the process of being amended.
Other resolutions agreed included advocating and lobbying for a culture of fiscal discipline and accountability together with good corporate governance in private and public entities.
Emcoz also agreed to constantly engage government through moral suasion to influence positive change in policy discourse.
