The Sunday Mail
The Zuva judgment has received mixed reactions from employers and employees
According to Professor Lovemore Madhuku, the legal companion of the two Zuva Petroleum (Private) Limited employees whose employment contracts were terminated on notice in terms of Section 12(4) of the Labour Act, the case is in fact still before the Constitutional Court, contrary to what some sections of the media have reported.
What was dismissed on Wednesday was the urgency of the matter. In other words, the employees had applied to that court for the case to be dealt with on an urgent basis but the court did not agree with them. The matter will, therefore, join the ordinary queue and will be heard when its turn arrives.
But is that case still entirely a legal issue, particularly in view of the ramifications that have flowed from the judgment recently made by the Supreme Court?
In this instalment, I attempt to answer these questions and ask more.
In my own view, Government, employers, employees and in fact, all of us are in a fix.
The naked truth is that we are all caught between a very hard place and a rock. To begin with, the employees whose contracts have been terminated in terms of the said Section 12(4) have not been receiving their wages for some time.
At best, they were being paid only a portion of their salaries. The question that must find an answer is why was this so? Though l am not an economist myself, I will nevertheless proffer my own views.
Surely, there is no serious employer who would hire someone today, only to dismiss them tomorrow for no reason when the business is performing.
Therefore, if it is evident that the business is not in a healthy financial state, what should the owner of the business do? Retrenchment would be the most ideal option but then, is that possible when the company is ailing?
We must never lose sight of the fact that the Retrenchment Regulations were enacted during a period when one might say, everything was normal.
At that time, companies had access to loans and other financial instruments that enabled them to recapitalise their operations. If you take as an example, those in the timber production sector, you will find that the trees they grow have a life span of at least 10 years. Some go up to as much as 25 years.
Now if the tree is to be sustained for that long time, it means that the company must be able to access a loan for some substantial period of time for the whole business to make sense and money. Such kind of loans are not currently available in Zimbabwe.
Further, some key enablers of our economy such as the Grain Marketing Board and the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe are now a pale shadow of their old selves. They are no longer playing the role that they used to in our economy. As a result, the farming sector has been adversely affected. And what has been the result?
Not enough local raw materials for industry. Not one sector of the economy can depend solely on itself. Everything is connected together so that if one sector sneezes, the rest of the group members are sure to catch a cold.
The other challenge that we face is that of imports. We are importing far too much. What is the cause for this? Some economists have pointed to antiquated machinery in most of our industries. These are unable to produce as efficiently and cheaply as those in South Africa, China and Brazil from where most of our goods are coming. What must be done to resolve this aspect?
This scenario is applicable throughout the whole economy at the moment. Businesses are consequently unable to run profitably resulting in the need to shed off some members of staff as a way of ameliorating the situation to avoid closing down the company altogether.
Therefore from my point of view, businesses are in a fix as I have already said. Former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono once said, “Extraordinary challenges needed extraordinary measures”.
What we have on our hands right now are extraordinary challenges and we would do well to adopt extraordinary measures to confront them.
Until something happens and I do not know what that is, employers have only one option at the moment, to use the “Zuva Way”.
Otherwise the only other option would be to close shop, which in my opinion would be worse off.
At least, The Zuva Way gives the company some hope that perhaps it will survive and even grow so that at some point, it will re-employ.
Am I being insensitive and unreasonable? Are there other viable options? The judgment is yours.
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