Social partners urged to make sacrifices for Vision 2030 to be attained

Harare (New Ziana) –Social partners in Zimbabwe should be prepared to make some compromises and sacrifices for a win-win situation to enable the country to attain the vision of becoming an upper middle income economy by 2030, a senior government official has said.

Addressing well-attended the International Workers Day commemorations which the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU) organised at Jopa Women’s Market Grounds in Chipinge on Wednesday, Manicaland Minister of Provincial Affairs Mishek Mugadza said workers should demand living wages and not extra ordinary, luxurious and unsustainable salaries.

“Business must make profits and not supper profits at the expense of the workers and the country at large. Business must be fully committed in paying up all the required statutory taxes and all required line obligations to the government,” he said.

“Government must come up with a robust framework to make sure that all the statutory taxes are not evaded through illicit financial leakages.”

He said the Government fully supports the exposure of extractive and parasitic capitalism from the workers through whistle blowing in the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF).

Extractive capitalism is characterized by a mindset that prioritizes extracting wealth from Earth, workers, and communities without fair compensation or consideration for the resulting problems.

Addressing extractive capitalism requires rethinking economic systems, promoting fair compensation, and considering the long-term impact on communities and the environment.

Mugadza said the now legislated TNF is the national platform for dialogue on all socio-economic development issues.

“Government fully supports the issue of exposing extractive and parasitic capital right from the working enterprises by well-structured vigilant and articulate tenacious workers through whistle blowing and through your federation in the TNF,” he said.

“Government also is putting in place mechanisms to make sure that value chains and beneficiation is attained at all cost in all working enterprises thereby suppressing the extractive and parasitic syndrome by a few elites and would-be investors,” he said.

He said the government will continue to capacitate the TNF for fruitful engagements with all social partners to finally achieve the national economic development goals.

ZFTU president Alfred Makwarimba said workers want maximum and unfettered inclusion in all economic development policies through the TNF.

He said the working class should not be used to rubber stamp elite neo-liberal policies and every policy should go through the TNF before it is adopted.

“All economic policies should be evaluated in the TNF before implementation to ensure they have the interests of the workers, who are the vanguard of the economy,” he said.

“Government should align with workers who are the real creators of wealth and not with the comprador bourgeoisie who are involved with extractive and parasitic economic sabotage.”

Makwarimba said the working class have long been observing a well-orchestrated mafia extractive syndicate within the business domain, both foreign or local investors, which is a cancer that is meant to distract and sabotage the vision of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the general populace to attain Vision 2030.

He said the TNF should be fully operationalized and given its rightful space to negotiate and consult on socio-economic issues with the cooperation of all social partners.

The ZFTU held its celebrations under the theme ‘Working class demanding for radical inclusivity in all economic policies against extractive, parasitic capital’

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) held its May Day commemorations at the Gwanzura Stadium in the high density suburb of Highfield in the capital, which were poorly attended.

ZCTU President Florence Taruvinga, who was booed by the crowd during a part of her speech, said workers need their plight addressed as they still earn very low wages.

“We are coming from COVID-19, whose effects are being felt. We are facing drought from cyclone El-Nino,” she said.

“All these factors are not making things better for the ordinary worker. The economy is agriculture-based and this brings us to the question that ‘How are we going to survive under such circumstances?” she said.

She said the government should ensure workers, who were already struggling to make ends meet before the drought, are cushioned from its effects.

“It is an obligation of the government to ensure all citizenry and the workers are well kept and are living a decent life. We continue to reiterate that the government should make sure measures are put in place to ensure no worker will be left behind in the distribution of food aid,” she said.

The ZCTU celebrations were under the theme “Workers demand an inclusive Zimbabwe, free from poverty, corruption and oppression: Arise Workers Arise.”

New Ziana