Govt intensifies economic formalisation drive
GOVERNMENT has begun the process of crafting the Occupational Health and Safety Bill to increase the number of citizens covered by safety nets as part of efforts to improve livelihoods.
The informal sector accounts for 76 percent of the population but enjoys no form of social protection or pension benefit.
This comes as players in the insurance sector have expressed concern over the low uptake of health and safety cover attributable to challenges facing the economy including the latest Covid-19 pandemic.
In an interview, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Permanent Secretary, Mr Simon Masanga, said they were working with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) through a consultant to come up with a bottom-up approach policy.
“We are working with a number of stakeholders including the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, National Social Security Authority (NSSA) and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to make sure we develop the formalisation strategy. It’s already there and what’s left is to implement it,” he said.
“By formalisation we are simply saying we want those in the informal sector to improve jobs and develop contracts of employment.”
The strategy is aimed at improving the workplace environment for the informal sector and putting proper infrastructure for decent work.
“We want international labour standards that govern the relationship between the worker and employer, meaning we also expect issues of occupations health to apply in the informal sector,” said Mr Masanga.
“In that regard we are coming up with the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Bill.”
He said the old framework was restricted to a few sectors and now the Government wants to expand it to cover informal sector.
“We don’t want to lose lives or have injuries at the workplace. So, this is what we are doing and ultimately, we expect workers in the informal sector to contribute to their own pension and medical aid so that when one falls sick, they are able to access services,” said Mr Masanga.
“Currently medical aid cover is only 10 percent and that is not acceptable, we want 90 percent and we are coming up with a National Health Insurance scheme, which will be contributory where one pays a small fee and the scheme will cover medical costs.”
The formalisation of the informal sector would also enable workers to contribute to the NSSA funds to cushion them when they eventually retire.
NSSA pension is a compulsory form of protection meant to provide security in future, and is not available to the informal sector.
Insurance Council of Zimbabwe executive director, Mr Tendai Karonga, is on record saying work is underway to create a national insurance programme that will promote affordable products for those in the informal sector including those operating in agriculture.
Association of Health Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ) chief executive Mrs Shylet Sanyanga said there was huge potential in the informal sector especially when technology is embraced.
“Formalisation of the informal sector will be most welcome especially if it comes with lower-end packages that should be affordable,” she said. Currently the number of lives covered is about 1,7 million which is about 10 percent of the population and if it is to grow, we would need to have formalisation of the informal sector to encourage players to
go into that market.”
NSSA director of contributions and compliance, Mrs Agnes Masiiwa, has challenged businesses to transform and focus on the informal sector, which is now a key driver of the economy. — The Chronicle
