Zim workers drown in debt

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MOST Zimbabwean workers have now been reduced to bad debtors and are struggling to service their debts ranging from utility bills to accounts with retail stores and bank loans, among other obligations, as their employers pay salaries and wages late due to the economic crisis.

MOST Zimbabwean workers have now been reduced to bad debtors and are struggling to service their debts ranging from utility bills to accounts with retail stores and bank loans, among other obligations, as their employers pay salaries and wages late due to the economic crisis. NQOBANI NDLOVU STAFF REPORTER

Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions southern region chairperson Reason Ngwenya said hardly a month passes by without them receiving floods of complaints from employees over late pay or failure to pay salaries and wages.

Ngwenya said creditors and loan sharks were grabbing properties of defaulters, adding that the majority of workers had been pushed into deep poverty as a result of failure to get their salaries on time or half salaries in some cases.

At one point, banks and retailers suggested forming a centralised credit bureau to access clients’ information and detect bad debtors who should be blacklisted.

Once blacklisted, a client would be denied access to loans or fail to buy goods on credit.

The Insurance and Pensions Commission (Ipec) recently said companies were also not remitting pension contributions for employees despite deducting contributions from salaries. Ipec said companies were converting the funds for other uses to stay afloat.

“The reports we get from employees over late payment are too many to count. Once we get the complaints, we make follow-ups to force the employers to pay their workers. It is our duty to ensure that the worker’s welfare is protected at all costs,” Ngwenya said.

“The companies are all saying they are struggling. They cite the liquidity crunch and many other reasons for failure to pay on time. Some employers are just being cruel to their workers and deliberately come up with excuses so that they do not pay.

“They are unkind to the worker . . . for the sake of peace, productivity, the economy and the welfare of the worker, we appeal to employers to pay workers their salaries.”

Civil servants have not been spared as the government has for months been forced to postpone pay dates due to the harsh liquidity crunch the country is facing.

Social commentator Sibusiswe Ndlovu warned employees against buying goods on credit saying protests are the only solution to push companies to take the welfare of their workers seriously and pay salaries.

Ndlovu said employers were getting the impression that employees have other means of survival since workers not protesting.

“My limited view on the issue is that no one at this time must rely on their job to meet their accounts, loans, credit or mortgages obligations. While protests may not bring an immediate solution, they may help the public to express their anger and call the government to action for their circumstances,” said Ndlovu.

“As long as the public stays silent despite the closing of hundreds of companies and the loss of jobs by thousands of workers, it gives the impression that these workers have alternatives for survival. It gives the government and relevant authorities excuses to sit back and not do anything.”

Clever Bere, an analyst, noted that while it was true that the economy was teetering on the brink of collapse, companies must be innovative enough to tap onto the millions circulating in the informal sector to ensure they do not only survive, but pay salaries on time.

“The challenges the economy is facing have reached alarming levels and when one looks beyond today, the picture ahead is scary with severe liquidity crises affecting the economy,” said Bere.

“Companies should be innovative enough to raise capital rather than waiting on the government. For example, there are millions of dollars circulating in the informal sector, companies should come up with strategies of assimilating those funds into the formal sector.”

Bere added that the government should come up with clear policies that attract foreign direct investment.

“To achieve economic stability, our politics must be sorted first. We have so many policy discords in the government and this is significantly affecting foreign direct investment. I think the indigenisation law in its current state has done more harm than good to the country,” he said.

“We need to revisit it so that we attract investment. Government policy must be predictable and friendly for investment and resource mobilisation.”