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Wallace Ruzvidzo, Harare Bureau
President Mnangagwa has reaffirmed Government’s commitment to continued dialogue under the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF), something the International Labour Organisation appreciates, ILO Director-General, Mr Gilbert Houngbo, has said.
The ILO boss arrived in the country on Sunday for a historic two-day working visit which ended yesterday.
This was the first visit to Zimbabwe by a high-ranking official from the ILO.
In an interview after a closed-door meeting with President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare yesterday, Mr Houngbo said he held fruitful deliberations with the President.
The ILO, he said, would remain focused on its mandate.
“I would like to express my gratitude to His Excellency for this courtesy call. I wanted to brief him on this mission which started two days ago; so we really discussed about the progress Zimbabwe is making,” Mr Houngbo said.
“I was here six years ago in my former capacity and the economic stabilisation here and the new currency that is backed by gold (impresses me) despite the fact that we need to continue making progress in stabilising the ZiG and the impact that it could have on Zimbabwean workers, which is to empower on one side and also the ability of businesses to access foreign currency and operational matters.
“I am very glad that His Excellency insisted a lot on the importance of continued dialogue in a very positive manner in the TNF, which is very important. So, for us it is important to ensure that we remain focused on the ILO mandate and the excellent report and the excellent partnership that we have with the authorities through the Ministry of Labour.”
Asked by our Harare Bureau how his mission to Zimbabwe had been, the ILO Director General said it was a success.
During his visit, Mr Houngbo met Government representatives, the business community and workers’ representatives before touring facilities including the Geo Pomona Waste Management facility, the New Parliament Building and the Museum of African Liberation.
“Quite a very successful and very rich (mission). Since Sunday and the whole day yesterday (Monday), there has been non-stop engagement and I really want to express my appreciation and thanks to also the social partners for the positive mood, the positive predisposition to look at the issues.
“We all know that both political and social stabilities are quite important for any development, this is why I mentioned in my earlier point, the strategic importance of the TNF. So, I am very pleased to have been here,” he said.
Mr Houngbo said they had also discussed labour migration patterns and how Zimbabwe can be protected from brain drain.
“It’s a very important issue for Zimbabwe and we started discussing it actually, since I arrived Sunday evening with Minister (of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare July) Moyo and also yesterday with Foreign Affairs and also the Head of State.
“It’s important to establish a balanced way and I want to be very clear on this; I do not think that we should look at that as developed countries taking away (labour), but it is trying to see that it is a matter of what is our interest, what is the interest of Zimbabwe and what is the interest of the country of destination and how you can come to a balancing act.
“Let us keep in mind that Zimbabwe benefits US$2 billion in remittances coming from the diaspora. On the flip side, it is important to deal with the risk of brain drain,” he said.
Zimbabwe, said Mr Houngbo, is traditionally known for its rich human resources.
“I keep saying that brain power is one of the comparative advantages of Zimbabwe and making sure that we do not end up with brain drain.
“What we all agree is the importance of having a circular labour migration rather than a brain drain situation,” he said.
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