Story by Tichaona Kurewa
THE government has announced that it will leverage Zimbabwe’s position as the chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to promote decent work and fair labour practices throughout the region.
Zimbabwe is set to host the Meeting of SADC Ministers of Employment and Labour, along with Social Partners, next month in Victoria Falls.
During this meeting and other forums, Zimbabwe aims to advocate for the adoption of decent work and fair labor practices, not only within the country but also across the entire SADC region.
“We are hosting the labour and employment forums and we shall be driving decent work and a better working standard agenda as we want that to cascade to all countries in the SADC region so that our chairmanship of SADC drives key narratives in terms of labour within the region,” Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Honourable Edgar Moyo said.
“We know there is a lot of labour migration within the region and we want to consolidate that and make sure that we drive it. During our term as chairperson of SADC, we will ensure that these are some of the deliverables that we achieve.”
The government is also in the process of developing labour standards to further improve working conditions in the country.
“The ministry is working on labour standards, work which is beneficial to the employees in terms of benefits, looking at medical aid, social security, pensions, and all those things make up decent work,” Honourable Moyo added.
In 2023, Zimbabwe amended the Labour Act to transform National Employment Councils into legal entities and ensure the labour force contributes effectively towards the country’s attainment of an upper-middle-income society by 2030.
