HARARE - The disbanded Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic) is failing to pay workers severance packages.
Jomic is a multi-party panel that was set-up in 2009, pursuant of the 2008 power-sharing agreement commonly referred to as the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
It had promised to pay terminal benefits to its hundreds of provincial and district political liaison officers before they officially close business.
The GPA monitoring body, which has over 100 political liaison officers in the country’s 10 provinces and over 200 district officers, has not been able to honour the promise it made to its former employees.
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga of the Welshman Ncube-led MDC, who is the immediate past chairperson of Jomic, confirmed that the ex-employees had not yet been given their benefits.
She however, warned that the former employees risked losing everything they worked for in the last five years if they continued to take the matter to the media.
“So do they (ex-Jomic workers) think negotiating through the media is what will make them get what they want? I have not seen a company that negotiates labour issues with its workers while at the same time they are engaging the press. If they think I will do that then God bless them, I wish them all the success,” she said.
Elton Mangoma and Nicholas Goche co-chaired Jomic with Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
Jomic started winding down its operations last month with some of its personnel surrendering vehicles at its head office in Harare’s Avondale suburb following the expiry of its term of office after the expiry of the inclusive government.
This comes amid allegations that the two MDC formations were pushing for some of Jomic’s responsibilities to be transferred to a tripartite forum dubbed the Secretary Generals’ Platform.