by Innocent Mujeri
City Parking, a private company wholly owned by City of Harare to offer parking services in the city, has decided to put workers on unpaid leave starting next month, Harare Post can report.
Resolutions of a meeting held in Harare on 24 April by the management of City Parking showed that the company had agreed to place workers on unpaid leave.
“Going forward as you are aware, our salaries comes from the streets and parkades operations, consequently all employees will be placed on unpaid leave from May 2020 for the whole period of lockdown as our company will not be in a position to pay because no revenue is being generated,” reads the part of the resolutions.
City Parking also told its workers that it would not pay them the stipulated minimum wage of ZWL$2549.74, in clear violation of Statutory Instrument 81of 2020 which set the minimum wage at ZWL$2 549.74.
“The statutory instrument S.I 81 of 2020 set a minimum wage of $2549-74 from April 2020. However, the company cannot immediately implement that directive due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has seriously affected every business sector,” read the resolutions.
The company also took a decision not to renew contracts of workers that have expired citing constrained financial resources.
One City Parking worker who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity said the decision to put workers on unpaid leave was unfair as some of the workers who are connected to the company’s bigwigs have been told to remain at work on full salaries.
The same source said the decision to place workers on unpaid leave was made by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leadership as they see the continued payment of salaries to workers as a threat to their cash cow.
“My brother we are not happy with this decision (of unpaid leave). I want to tell you that this decision was made by the MDC not the City Parking because everyone knows that the company is an investment vehicle for the MDC, so they want to safeguard their source of income by not paying us,” said the source.
The source further revealed that although the company had decided to put them on unpaid leave, it failed to adjust salaries to a stipulated minimum wage as most of the workers are still earning below ZWL$1 500.
“The company (City Parking) is making approximately ZWL$70 000 per day but they have failed to adjust our salaries. Most of us are earning less than ZWL$1 500. But they always give thousands of dollars to the party (MDC) to finance its activities,” fumed the source.
An insider in the MDC revealed that indeed City Parking took instructions from the MDC as it is a company formed by to finance MDC activities.
The same individual said most of City Parking employees were in the party structures and they are employed on the basis of their proximity to the MDC leadership.
Another insider who only revealed his first name as Tafadzwa said City Parking is hiding behind a finger as it has found an excuse to lay off workers so that they can easily employ MDC loyalists without any hindrances.
Motorist, Mr Gilbert Masvaya said City Parking had failed to justify why they were still collecting money from motorists. He said they had failed to renovate or construct parking lots and parkades.
Economic analyst, Mr Tashinga Chabayanzara said by placing workers on unpaid leave, City Parking might have jumped the gun as President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to review lockdown conditions on 3 May.
Mr Chabayanzara said it was prudent for City Parking to wait for the review of lockdown conditions before laying off workers as companies are expected to resume operations as soon as possible.
City Parking is custodian of Julius Nyerere Parkade, Samora Machel Parkade, Parklane parking lot, Fourth Street parking lot and other parking bays in Harare. The company charges ZWL$10 for one to park for an hour. However, the company continues to hog media limelight for the wrong reasons as in 2019, it found itself in a nepotism storm after it emerged that councillors were seconding their relatives for jobs in various departments, leaving a trail of similar surnames in the municipality’s employment books.
