Transfer of ZETDC to Mutapa Fund sends shivers among workers; urgent meeting demanded
By Staff Writer
NEWS on the impending transfer of the Zimbabwe Electricity Development and Transmission Company (ZETDC) to the newly established Mutapa Investment Fund has sent chills down the worker spines who have demanded an urgent meeting over the matter.
Dubbed the parastatals game-changer, the Mutapa Investment Fund is a pool of resources i.e. public equities, commodity royalties and allocations from the government that will be invested for the future.
The history of the fund can be traced back to 2014 when the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act was enacted.
Although it has had very little activity since its initiation, the fund has very clear objectives such as to invest for future generations and support the country’s development goals amongst others.
To date , 20 State Enterprises have been placed under the fund with the inaugural chief executive officer, outgoing Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya tasked to give direction in turning around these institutions.
However, a grouping of workers represented by the National Energy Workers Union of Zimbabwe (NEWUZ) , the Energy Sector Workers Union of Zimbabwe (ESWUZ) and the Zimbabwe Energy Workers Union are sacred of job losses.
“It has come to our attention that you are already implementing the movement of the Organisation to the Mutapa Investment Fund without consulting workers.We are also informed that you have already developed and agreed a new Organisational Chart in line with the above mentioned movement.This chart is said to be excluding many of the current positions,” said the unions in a letter to ZESA Executive Chairman.
The unions said It was also not clear which entities are being affected by this movement or fate of the entities .
They said the impact of these developments on the conditions of service and welfare of the workers is also not known.
“It appears all these developments are being implemented clandestinely with proper consultation as required by the law resulting in anxiety and disinformation form our members.
“We therefore demand an urgent meeting with you to get a clear and correct position on the developments,” said the workers groups in a joint statement.
Despite the fears by the workers, experts believe that the transfer to Mutapa will be a rude awakening for the reluctant parastatals characterized by gross mismanagement and incompetencies draining the fiscus unnecessarily.
State Enterprises used to contribute around 40% revenue to the fiscus at their peak in the 1990s but due to Ministerial leanings over the years most of them were politicised and used as campaigning vehicles to prop up politicians.
Populistic tendencies like creation duplicated management structures are some of the allegations standing against several state enterprises in the country.
