The Designated Agent of National Employment Council for the Electronics, Communications, Radio TV Manufacturing and Allied Industry Boniface Madziwabende recently determined that Satewave Technologies Private limited recalculate underpayments owed to its former employee Phil Kwekwani using the United States of America dollars for the period covering
June 2021 to April 2022.
Madziwabende had ordered that Satewave (Pvt) Ltd a giant in the construction technology services operating in the telecommunications, electrical, civil construction sectors should recalculate the underpayments for either the United States of America Dollars or the Zimbabwean Dollar using the correct
collective bargain salaries and grades for the stated period and make adjustment where necessary and pay the claimant within 30 days from receipt of the said determination.
Kwekwani had told the Designated Agent that Satewave Technologies had paid him salaries far below the gazzeted minimums of the National Employment Council adding that he was never furnished with any pay slips thereby depriving him of information regarding deduction of statutory obligation from his salaries, his grade, pay rate and accrued leave days among other information highlighted in the pay slip.
“The law is very clear that one must exhaust all internal proceedings of the company before approaching a third part,” argued Satewave Technologies in their submissions submitted to the Designated Agent.
“The claimant never approached the management of the company with his issue of underpayment and was a student who was learning from the company to gain experience,” added Satewave who concluded thus, ‘Claimant erred by not exhausting internal remedies before approaching the National Employment Council.’
In the determination Madziwabende noted that the way the Respondent (Satewave Technologies) paid the claimant (Phil Kwekwani) raises a lot of questions.
Madziwabende further determined that Satewave Technologies should remit all the US$ statutory obligations of the US$ basic salary to relevant statutory bodies including NEC for the stated period since they had clearly stated that it was part of the claimant’s basic salary.
“We will not sit back while workers’ rights which include but not limited to unconditional payment of agreed minimum wages and provision of pay slips are being infringed by the other part which is the employer. We will act accordingly,” said Henry Tarumbira who is the General Secretary of National Union of Metal and Allied Industry in Zimbabwe a union which covers the electronics sector.
THE ongoing retrenchment exercise at Harare based prestigious medical institution, Avenues Clinic has reached a crescendo on the back of allegations that an estimated US$750, 00 has been placed on offer for the least paid retrenchees.
The health group, which falls under Medical Investments Limited (MIL) recently tabled plans to lay off 50 workers as part of a strategic decision in the best interests of the company.
Following the decision, documents leaked to this publication confirmed that the company offered to pay Service Pay of one month’s salary for every year served, Notice Pay of three months’ salary in Lieu of Notice, Payment of Accrued Leave Days and Medical Aid Cover for three months up to December 31 2025.
Over and above the conditions, the company has announced a payment timeframe of six months.
“Considering that the least-serving employees facing the chop had served for just two and a half years while earning very small salaries, what this offer effectively means is that workers under such a bracket are set to take home just an estimated US$750, 00 before tax. The highest paid workers who had served for about 27 years will be taking home an estimated US$8 500 and this is before tax,” alleged one of the affected employees who preferred anonymity.
Another retrenched employee questioned the management’s rationale arguing that there was need to appreciate the services they extended to the organization over the years by treating them with dignity.
A Notice of Retrenchment filed by the MIL to the Retrenchment Board which was also gleaned by our publication contains three main reasons behind the job cuts.
“We are embarking on the retrenchment exercise because of restructuring and remodeling of the business for prudent cash flow, management and cost containment. Positions being laid off have been outsourced to support financial and operational viability of the business as well as consolidation of the jobs for cost and headcount management,” reads the notice in part.
In contrast, the affected workers are pushing for a reasonable package, at least decent enough for one kick-starting a viable project reflecting the years of committed service at a prestigious and well-oiled health facility.
“What is going on right now at the MIL is a deliberate ploy of sacrificing lowly paid workers. In fact whose salaries are way lesser than some of the executives’ airtime allowances in the name of easing financial pressures on the entity? If the company is not performing as alleged, why target small jobs and exclude top management who cream off bigger salaries and benefits?” alleged one of the workers.
I contacted them, been trying getting in contact with them for over a year they neglected to respond, pick calls or admit me after a car accident I never got checked for damge from and subsequent physical domstic abuse before more physical abuse at a military camp being accused of the abuses done to me, they are still ignoring me. I sent them a form a few days ago they still ignored. I a allowed to go there to see other injured folk but they won't take mine seriously. I am now functionally crippled and instead of sounding alarms Zimbabwe you make fun of me. You should be highlighting this news. Some of us are being forced to do our own physiotherapy at home regardless of skill leve and safety or urgency of human life.
The insurance and pensions bills are expected toe out by June as the government moves to implement recommendations of the Justice Smith Commission of Inquiry into the Conversion of Insurance and Pensions values from Zimbabwe dollar to United States (US) dollar.
The inquiry revealed that loss of value in insurance and pension benefits was mainly caused by macro-economic regulatory and institutional factors. The commission recommended reformation of Zimbabwe's legislation around the insurance and pensions sectors as part of initiatives to guard against loss of value and fair compensation after noting serious loss of value.
Regulatory failure on the part of Government and the regulator for insurance and pensions were identified as having caused loss of value. Government was accused of failing to guide the industry during the hyperinflation and currency debasing and during conversion of insurance and pension values when the economy was dollarized from 2009.
The Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) is said to have failed to conduct on-site supervision and investigate its licensees, allowing arbitrary insurance product terminations by insurance companies, poor investment management practices, poor record keeping and failing to deal with predatory administration expenses among other issues, short-changed members.
Amendment of legislation on insurance and pensions, namely Amendment of the Insurance Bill, the Pensions and Provident Funds Bill, and the Insurance and Pensions Commission Bill is expected to cover the identified regulatory gaps, and especially strengthening of IPEC. The Pensions and Provident Fund Bill, in particular, would be expected to foster better corporate governance practices within the industry while adequately providing the legal basis for a troubled entities' resolution framework as well as increasing the commission's enforcement powers.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube, has said the bills in this respect should appear before Parliament during the first half of this year.
“The Ministry is seized with legal reforms targeted at the legislation governing insurance and pensions. I understand the Bills took long at drafting stage. However, I wish to give you assurance that all the three Bills will be introduced in Parliament during the first half of this year,” he said.
“The macroeconomic reforms that we are implementing, particularly currency stabilisation, ease of doing business reforms and re-engagement efforts are meant to ensure stability, predictability and growth of the economy. I believe predictability of macroeconomic fundamentals is critical for informing pricing assumptions of insurance products and in guiding objective determination of the present value of future liabilities.”
The Commission was appointed by former President Mugabe and the report of the Commission of Inquiry was gazetted on 5th March 2018 through General Notice Number 149 of 2018. The inquiry was conducted over an 18 month period from September 2015 to March 2017 and covered a 20 year period from 1996 to 2014.
A nine member Commission. Its terms of reference of the Commission mandated the Commission to investigate the following issues among others:
To establish the total value, nature and type of assets owned by insurance companies and pension funds;
To determine the causes of loss of value of insurance and pension benefits;
To assess the conversion methods and processes of insurance and pension assets and liabilities to Unites States dollars;
To establish the extend of prejudice if any to policy holders and pensioners;
To recommend compensation where prejudice has been established and;
To examine instances of regulatory failures and finally;
To assess the soundness of the industry and the role of the insurance and pension sector in the economy.
Commutations of the full pension upon dollarisation, saw a number of occupational pension schemes and NSSA paying once off pension benefit to pensioners upon dollarization, arguing that the amounts were too small to warrant monthly payments. Pensioners were paid commutations as small as a few hundred dollars or one or two thousand in rare cases although lifetime pensions were expected.
A number of pension funds got away with unremitted pension contribution arrears, employers deducted monthly pension contributions from workers' salaries for all their years of service. That included the Mining Industry Pension Fund, the Local Authorities Pension Fund, the National Railways of Zimbabwe Pension Fund, the Unified Council Pension Fund, the ZUPCO Pension Fund, the Cold Storage Company Pension Fund and the Fidelity Printers Pension Fund and some other insurance companies. Consequently, upon retirement, pensioners could not receive their pension benefits from the pension funds.
As at December 2015, cumulative contribution arrears for the post-dollarization period amounted to about US$328, 5 million. Pensioners across all sectors who retired between 2007 and February 2009 lost their pension lump-sums largely due to the adverse impact of hyperinflation which whipped off their balances in banks. Upon demonetization of the Zimbabwe dollar, pensioners only received as little as US$5 as their one third lump-sum benefit.
Lack of transparency on the conversion methods, processes and formulae used by insurance companies and pension funds on the dollarization of the economy in 2009 was cited as one of the causes of loss of value. Most complainants indicated that their pensions were reduced from several hundreds or thousands of dollars to a few United States dollar cents. Some pensioners got as little as US$0,8c in pension cheque sent to them by a life insurance company in 2014 as settlement of a life policy and no explanation was offered on how such a figure was arrived at.
A total 49, 2% of Zimbabwe’s youth populace is Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) implying that they are roaming on the streets, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) data has revealed.
The stats agency data contained in the Second Quarter Labour Force Survey (QLFS) says 49, 2% of youths aged between 15 to 35 years fall under the NEET category. Females are the worst affected as 57, 4% compared to 40,4% men under the bracket.
The worst affected province during the period was Mashonaland Central with a rate of 58, 1% followed by Matabeleland North at 53, 8% and Matabeleland South at 52,4%. Bulawayo Province had the least rate at 38,5%.
The data shows that across the provinces, female youths are the worst affected after scoring much higher percentages than their male counterparts. Proportions of youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) for the age group 15-24 years, was 38.5 percent in Bulawayo province and 46.0 percent in Masvingo province.
The United Nations Population Fund has since reported that Zimbabwe is likely to miss its opportunity to derive the demographic dividend (DD) from its youthful population.
DD – refers to the temporary economic benefits that can arise from a significant increase in that can arise from a significant increase in the ratio of working age adults as a result of rapid fertility decline. The first demographic dividend opened before 1990 and reached a peak in 2013 and is now in the diminishing returns phase.
According to the report, the expanded Unemployment Rate for the country stood at 37,1%, with youth in the 15 to 24 age band being hardest hit at 58,2% and those between 15 to 35 standing at 46,1%.
Unemployment rate for Midlands province was 21.8 percent. Female unemployment rate for the province was 20.8 percent while the male unemployment rate was 23.3 percent.
The unemployment rate for persons with at least one form of functional disability was 23.8 percent.
BY JAMES MUTASA
The Designated Agent of National Employment Council for the Electronics, Communications, Radio TV Manufacturing and Allied Industry Boniface Madziwabende recently determined that Satewave Technologies Private limited recalculate underpayments owed to its former employee Phil Kwekwani using the United States of America dollars for the period covering
June 2021 to April 2022.
Madziwabende had ordered that Satewave (Pvt) Ltd a giant in the construction technology services operating in the telecommunications, electrical, civil construction sectors should recalculate the underpayments for either the United States of America Dollars or the Zimbabwean Dollar using the correct
collective bargain salaries and grades for the stated period and make adjustment where necessary and pay the claimant within 30 days from receipt of the said determination.
Kwekwani had told the Designated Agent that Satewave Technologies had paid him salaries far below the gazzeted minimums of the National Employment Council adding that he was never furnished with any pay slips thereby depriving him of information regarding deduction of statutory obligation from his salaries, his grade, pay rate and accrued leave days among other information highlighted in the pay slip.
“The law is very clear that one must exhaust all internal proceedings of the company before approaching a third part,” argued Satewave Technologies in their submissions submitted to the Designated Agent.
“The claimant never approached the management of the company with his issue of underpayment and was a student who was learning from the company to gain experience,” added Satewave who concluded thus, ‘Claimant erred by not exhausting internal remedies before approaching the National Employment Council.’
In the determination Madziwabende noted that the way the Respondent (Satewave Technologies) paid the claimant (Phil Kwekwani) raises a lot of questions.
Madziwabende further determined that Satewave Technologies should remit all the US$ statutory obligations of the US$ basic salary to relevant statutory bodies including NEC for the stated period since they had clearly stated that it was part of the claimant’s basic salary.
“We will not sit back while workers’ rights which include but not limited to unconditional payment of agreed minimum wages and provision of pay slips are being infringed by the other part which is the employer. We will act accordingly,” said Henry Tarumbira who is the General Secretary of National Union of Metal and Allied Industry in Zimbabwe a union which covers the electronics sector.
Hello!
By Own Correspondent
THE ongoing retrenchment exercise at Harare based prestigious medical institution, Avenues Clinic has reached a crescendo on the back of allegations that an estimated US$750, 00 has been placed on offer for the least paid retrenchees.
The health group, which falls under Medical Investments Limited (MIL) recently tabled plans to lay off 50 workers as part of a strategic decision in the best interests of the company.
Following the decision, documents leaked to this publication confirmed that the company offered to pay Service Pay of one month’s salary for every year served, Notice Pay of three months’ salary in Lieu of Notice, Payment of Accrued Leave Days and Medical Aid Cover for three months up to December 31 2025.
Over and above the conditions, the company has announced a payment timeframe of six months.
“Considering that the least-serving employees facing the chop had served for just two and a half years while earning very small salaries, what this offer effectively means is that workers under such a bracket are set to take home just an estimated US$750, 00 before tax. The highest paid workers who had served for about 27 years will be taking home an estimated US$8 500 and this is before tax,” alleged one of the affected employees who preferred anonymity.
Another retrenched employee questioned the management’s rationale arguing that there was need to appreciate the services they extended to the organization over the years by treating them with dignity.
A Notice of Retrenchment filed by the MIL to the Retrenchment Board which was also gleaned by our publication contains three main reasons behind the job cuts.
“We are embarking on the retrenchment exercise because of restructuring and remodeling of the business for prudent cash flow, management and cost containment. Positions being laid off have been outsourced to support financial and operational viability of the business as well as consolidation of the jobs for cost and headcount management,” reads the notice in part.
In contrast, the affected workers are pushing for a reasonable package, at least decent enough for one kick-starting a viable project reflecting the years of committed service at a prestigious and well-oiled health facility.
“What is going on right now at the MIL is a deliberate ploy of sacrificing lowly paid workers. In fact whose salaries are way lesser than some of the executives’ airtime allowances in the name of easing financial pressures on the entity? If the company is not performing as alleged, why target small jobs and exclude top management who cream off bigger salaries and benefits?” alleged one of the workers.
I contacted them, been trying getting in contact with them for over a year they neglected to respond, pick calls or admit me after a car accident I never got checked for damge from and subsequent physical domstic abuse before more physical abuse at a military camp being accused of the abuses done to me, they are still ignoring me. I sent them a form a few days ago they still ignored. I a allowed to go there to see other injured folk but they won't take mine seriously. I am now functionally crippled and instead of sounding alarms Zimbabwe you make fun of me. You should be highlighting this news. Some of us are being forced to do our own physiotherapy at home regardless of skill leve and safety or urgency of human life.
The insurance and pensions bills are expected toe out by June as the government moves to implement recommendations of the Justice Smith Commission of Inquiry into the Conversion of Insurance and Pensions values from Zimbabwe dollar to United States (US) dollar.
The inquiry revealed that loss of value in insurance and pension benefits was mainly caused by macro-economic regulatory and institutional factors. The commission recommended reformation of Zimbabwe's legislation around the insurance and pensions sectors as part of initiatives to guard against loss of value and fair compensation after noting serious loss of value.
Regulatory failure on the part of Government and the regulator for insurance and pensions were identified as having caused loss of value. Government was accused of failing to guide the industry during the hyperinflation and currency debasing and during conversion of insurance and pension values when the economy was dollarized from 2009.
The Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) is said to have failed to conduct on-site supervision and investigate its licensees, allowing arbitrary insurance product terminations by insurance companies, poor investment management practices, poor record keeping and failing to deal with predatory administration expenses among other issues, short-changed members.
Amendment of legislation on insurance and pensions, namely Amendment of the Insurance Bill, the Pensions and Provident Funds Bill, and the Insurance and Pensions Commission Bill is expected to cover the identified regulatory gaps, and especially strengthening of IPEC. The Pensions and Provident Fund Bill, in particular, would be expected to foster better corporate governance practices within the industry while adequately providing the legal basis for a troubled entities' resolution framework as well as increasing the commission's enforcement powers.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube, has said the bills in this respect should appear before Parliament during the first half of this year.
“The Ministry is seized with legal reforms targeted at the legislation governing insurance and pensions. I understand the Bills took long at drafting stage. However, I wish to give you assurance that all the three Bills will be introduced in Parliament during the first half of this year,” he said.
“The macroeconomic reforms that we are implementing, particularly currency stabilisation, ease of doing business reforms and re-engagement efforts are meant to ensure stability, predictability and growth of the economy. I believe predictability of macroeconomic fundamentals is critical for informing pricing assumptions of insurance products and in guiding objective determination of the present value of future liabilities.”
The Commission was appointed by former President Mugabe and the report of the Commission of Inquiry was gazetted on 5th March 2018 through General Notice Number 149 of 2018. The inquiry was conducted over an 18 month period from September 2015 to March 2017 and covered a 20 year period from 1996 to 2014.
A nine member Commission. Its terms of reference of the Commission mandated the Commission to investigate the following issues among others:
Commutations of the full pension upon dollarisation, saw a number of occupational pension schemes and NSSA paying once off pension benefit to pensioners upon dollarization, arguing that the amounts were too small to warrant monthly payments. Pensioners were paid commutations as small as a few hundred dollars or one or two thousand in rare cases although lifetime pensions were expected.
A number of pension funds got away with unremitted pension contribution arrears, employers deducted monthly pension contributions from workers' salaries for all their years of service. That included the Mining Industry Pension Fund, the Local Authorities Pension Fund, the National Railways of Zimbabwe Pension Fund, the Unified Council Pension Fund, the ZUPCO Pension Fund, the Cold Storage Company Pension Fund and the Fidelity Printers Pension Fund and some other insurance companies. Consequently, upon retirement, pensioners could not receive their pension benefits from the pension funds.
As at December 2015, cumulative contribution arrears for the post-dollarization period amounted to about US$328, 5 million. Pensioners across all sectors who retired between 2007 and February 2009 lost their pension lump-sums largely due to the adverse impact of hyperinflation which whipped off their balances in banks. Upon demonetization of the Zimbabwe dollar, pensioners only received as little as US$5 as their one third lump-sum benefit.
Lack of transparency on the conversion methods, processes and formulae used by insurance companies and pension funds on the dollarization of the economy in 2009 was cited as one of the causes of loss of value. Most complainants indicated that their pensions were reduced from several hundreds or thousands of dollars to a few United States dollar cents. Some pensioners got as little as US$0,8c in pension cheque sent to them by a life insurance company in 2014 as settlement of a life policy and no explanation was offered on how such a figure was arrived at.
uZ8rlF0ykP7dzW5kxD3zdJ6ng_soobshenie
By Own Correspondent
A total 49, 2% of Zimbabwe’s youth populace is Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) implying that they are roaming on the streets, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) data has revealed.
The stats agency data contained in the Second Quarter Labour Force Survey (QLFS) says 49, 2% of youths aged between 15 to 35 years fall under the NEET category. Females are the worst affected as 57, 4% compared to 40,4% men under the bracket.
The worst affected province during the period was Mashonaland Central with a rate of 58, 1% followed by Matabeleland North at 53, 8% and Matabeleland South at 52,4%. Bulawayo Province had the least rate at 38,5%.
The data shows that across the provinces, female youths are the worst affected after scoring much higher percentages than their male counterparts. Proportions of youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) for the age group 15-24 years, was 38.5 percent in Bulawayo province and 46.0 percent in Masvingo province.
The United Nations Population Fund has since reported that Zimbabwe is likely to miss its opportunity to derive the demographic dividend (DD) from its youthful population.
DD – refers to the temporary economic benefits that can arise from a significant increase in that can arise from a significant increase in the ratio of working age adults as a result of rapid fertility decline. The first demographic dividend opened before 1990 and reached a peak in 2013 and is now in the diminishing returns phase.
According to the report, the expanded Unemployment Rate for the country stood at 37,1%, with youth in the 15 to 24 age band being hardest hit at 58,2% and those between 15 to 35 standing at 46,1%.
Unemployment rate for Midlands province was 21.8 percent. Female unemployment rate for the province was 20.8 percent while the male unemployment rate was 23.3 percent.
The unemployment rate for persons with at least one form of functional disability was 23.8 percent.
uZ8rlF0ykP7dzW5kxD3zdJ6ng_soobshenie