BULAWAYO – The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) is broke and has no money to clear an 11-month salary backlog owed to workers, according to wealthy Transport Minister Obert Mpofu.
“The NRZ has no money right now to address the requests put forward by the employees. When I took over as minister of transport, there was a resolution by the previous board to retrench half the staff at the NRZ and I resisted because I was hoping that we would have come up with a solution by now,” Mpofu said.
Workers at the state owned company went on strike last week demanding their outstanding salaries and allowances. But Mpofu who was speaking at a Press conference soon after officially opening the 7th Africa Transportation Technology Transfer Conference in Bulawayo insisted that the NRZ was broke.
“The ultimate solution lies with getting an investor to capitalise and rehabilitate NRZ, which is what Government is working on now. We have been engaging a number of serious investors that are interested such as Chinese companies and the (Development Bank of Southern Africa) DBSA, but this is a process. We can’t get an investor today and things start moving tomorrow.”
“I want to assure the NRZ employees that Government is doing everything it can to address these challenges. It’s not only NRZ (that needs attention) but actually the entire Bulawayo economy itself.
“As I’ve always said, the Bulawayo economy is influenced by how the NRZ performs because of its employment force of over 20 000 workers. It’s unfortunate that it will take a bit of time for the NRZ to be back on its feet.”
The Zanu PF campaign manifesto for the 2013 elections hinged on a swift economic revival including the promise of 2 million jobs but the pledges have proved hollow as the economy continues on a downward spiral.
Zimbabwe has a foreign debt of over $10 billion and a local debt of over $700 million which it has been failing to service. A controversial indigenization policy forcing companies to cede 51 percent to locals has not helped the investment climate either.
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