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Cletus Mushanawani Senior Writer
While some skilled Zimbabweans are leaving the country in search of greener pastures, the Government is committed to reversing this by improving the macro-economic environment and the welfare of workers through regular salary increments.

Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Professor Paul Mavima said: “The issue of brain drain is a wider issue. As Government, we are working on improving the micro-economic environment to ensure that the citizenry’s lives are improved.

“Some of the issues we are working on include the improvement of workers’ welfare through better incentives. Salary negotiations will continue under the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF), which encompasses Government, labour and business.”

He said Government was demonstrating its seriousness on labour issues after Cabinet extensively deliberated on the outcome of the last TNF and referred it back to the parties involved for further deliberations.

“Cabinet decided that the issue on negotiations of salaries and wages should be referred back to the TNF and our technical committee is already busy working on the Cabinet recommendations. It was a good decision by Cabinet to give talks a chance to continue until an agreement is reached,” said the minister.

Government proposed to peg the minimum wage at 75 percent of the Poverty Datum Line (PDL) obtaining in August 2018, which translates to about $3 800. Labour was in agreement with the proposal, but business insisted on a minimum of $1 200.

There is a steady trickle of skilled people emigrating, as well as more who do not have needed skills, but are doing minimum wage jobs in other countries.

Both the public and private sectors have seen skilled staff leaving, with companies facing the need for better remuneration for skilled staff if they wish to keep them.

Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Mr Peter Mutasa said skilled and semi-skilled workers were leaving their jobs, which was likely to derail Government’s efforts to turn around the economy.

“The brain drain is creating a very big problem to Government’s efforts and vision to turn around the economy. The banking sector has lost a lot of skilled personnel especially in its information communication technology side.

“The effect is now being felt in service delivery. We don’t have the figures of those who have left off hand.

“The engineering sector has also not been spared, including the education sector where Science and Mathematics teachers are leaving,” said Mr Mutasa.

The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) was operating with an academic staff of about 700 instead of at least 1 100 but vacancies have been building up for years, with 19 resigning last year.

In a recent interview, UZ Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Mapfumo said the country’s oldest university was also affected by the freeze on staff recruitment.

“We have over 700 academic staff from a potential of probably over 1 100. Like any normal academic institution, we expect people to be moving, some going, some coming for a variety of reasons. That will not stop, but it has been accelerated by the state of our economy over the past two decades.

“Nineteen lecturers resigned over the past year, but we have also been employing. I have heard and seen social media reports saying 127 lecturers left UZ and so on but this not true,” said Prof Mapfumo.

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education needs about 15 000 new teachers for 2020 to cover all schools, but it was granted authority to recruit one-third of that figure.

A research study done by the International Migration Programme (IMP), in conjunction with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on skilled labour migration in South Africa and Southern Africa found that neighbouring countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region have served a replenishing role in terms of providing skilled labour to the Rainbow Nation.

According to the Department of Higher Education and Training 2013, Zimbabwean teachers constitute the largest group of migrant teachers in South Africa.

National Employment Council for the Engineering and Iron and Steel Industry general secretary Mr Tendai Nyamatore said according to their December 2019 report, the sector was now left with about 13 000 engineering workers in all grades, compared to more than 19 000 during the 2009-2013 period. These figures exclude sole traders.

Zesa Holdings has not been spared  as executive chairman Dr Sydney Gata recently said the parastatal lost over 400 engineers to Eskom of South Africa, 72 to Britain and 65 to Australia.

“We need to advertise and attract those people because one thing that will slow us down is that there are not enough senior executives to lead the process. We have to start by recruiting before proceeding with the re-bundling,” he said.