Workers' Cause to Hope and Celebrate

Thousands of Zimbabweans gather at Mt. Carmel High School to oppose the ongoing sanctions against the Southern African state. Sanctions were imposed after land seizure that restored property to the rightful owners., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Workers’ cause to hope and celebrate

Thursday, 02 May 2013 00:00
Rangu Nyamurundira
Zimbabwe Herald

What cause do we have to celebrate then, we who labour Zimbabwe’s economy? We have laboured in the past with little to show for it, after foreign interests and intervention sought to monopolise our economy and having sucked life from its harvest with sanctions.

What then must cause the workers to celebrate this day set aside for our reflection on our appreciation of the fruits of our labour?

Upon what shall we reflect to be the promise of guaranteed livelihood and improved welfare?

What does Zimbabwe’s worker today, who has sought to be blinded by the pain of sanctions and turned against his government, see in the crystal ball that is Zimbabwe’s economy? Do you see what lies right before you, what the Government of Zimbabwe offers the multitude of workers? We stand offered an equitable share of the fruits of the economy for which we labour.

The Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, read with its General Regulations of 2010, guarantees indigenous Zimbabweans, the workers among us, a direct share in the companies that exploit our country’s natural resources. The Act and its Regulations make provision for “employee share ownership scheme or trust” to be established by companies within their 51 percent indigenisation obligation. Indigenous workers are to be the direct beneficiaries of employee trusts whose purpose is “to enable employees of a company or group of companies to participate in or receive profits or income arising from the holding, management or disposal of the shares of the company.

The Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment will consider a company presenting an employee share ownership scheme/trust as part of its 51 percent indigenisation obligation where such scheme/trust guarantees employees at least 5 percent shareholding, to as much as 28 percent.

As at May 1, 2013, workers have cause to celebrate the progress being made in ensuring they secure shareholding in companies that long monopolised the wealth of Zimbabwe’s well-endowed economy.

At least 915 companies across key sectors of the economy have presented their indigenisation implementation plans to the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board.

The net asset value of these companies is US$9 413 786 272, with the value of their 51 percent shareholding now bound for indigenous ownership being $4 801 030 998,72. At the very least workers stand to benefit 5 percent of the value of this indigenous shareholding. As at April 31, 2013, 390 of these companies have had their indigenisation plans approved, enabling them to immediately begin the process of transferring shares to indigenous Zimbabweans, including workers. In 2012 alone we witnessed companies such as Old Mutual, Meikles, Schweppes and PPC, Zimplats, Mimosa, officially presenting employee schemes/trusts benefiting thousands of employees.

During the period 2010 to 2012, the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board fostered and endorsed employee share ownership trusts that resulted in companies proposing to allot shares valued at US$327 million to employees. The value of the proposed employee shareholding across each sector is as follows: Mining US$302 071 218,81, manufacturing US$11 485 867,27, Transport US$8 996 734,48, energy US$4 000 000, property US$854 065,80, construction US$260 000 000 and services US$54 065,80.

But it is a process, isn’t it, one requiring the participation of all indigenous Zimbabweans, especially workers, to ensure that companies comply and that the process is completed.

The reality which has dawned upon Zimbabwe’s workers is that not all companies are willing to comply with their obligations to indigenise to the benefit of our workers.

Despite the endeavours of NIEEB and its parent Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, some companies have sought to frustrate the establishment of employee share ownership schemes, intimidating their workers and misrepresenting the existence of legitimate employee schemes that benefit employees.

It is critical then that employees remain committed to ensuring that the opportunity now presented to them by the Government of Zimbabwe is not lost.

They must ensure that they benefit directly from their labour, through owning a share in the companies they toil to make a profit for.

Jobs, without the security only found in ownership guarantees, have been proved no longer to be enough. Indigenous Zimbabweans must not be confined to being labourers entitled only to meagre salaries.

We must learn from Western economies, suffering recession and uncertainty. It is their millions of workers that were taught to rely on jobs alone without a share in the national economy that have been left destitute.

In South Africa the “cat strikes” that spread across the country’s mining sector in 2012 was further evidence that jobs alone are no longer enough to guarantee the socio-economic dignity and livelihood of workers.

The deprivation of workers of an equitable share in the national economy has proved to be a threat to local and foreign investment, with companies being forced to shut down by striking workers demanding improved and dignified livelihoods. In South Africa mining companies suffered losses worth millions of dollars.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s workers, who have persevered under sanctions, continued to be labour-driven by the promise of receiving a direct share in their employing companies.

Ultimately securing shareholding for indigenous employees in Zimbabwe will prove to be the conducive environment that guarantees foreign investment and the sustainable growth of Zimbabwe’s economy.

Zimbabwe’s workers have cause to celebrate then this Workers’ Day. There is indeed much to look forward to, now that their country has embarked upon their economic empowerment by transforming them into owners of shares in their national economy.

Rangu Nyamurundira is a lawyer and an indigenisation/empowerment consultant based in Harare, Zimbabwe.