Hwange, Victoria Falls locals feel sidelined in tourism jobs

THERE are growing concerns over alleged nepotism and sidelining of locals when hiring workers in the tourism and hospitality industry in Victoria Falls and Hwange.

Tensions are simmering between residents and tourism industry players here, especially hotels and lodges, who face accusations of “importing labour” from other parts of the country ahead of locals.

Some employers have reportedly claimed lack of skills among locals, an argument based on the absence of tourism and hospitality training schools in the country’s prime resort town.

Where locals are hired, residents have complained that they are given short-term contracts after which they are replaced with people from other towns. Although this has been a perennial concern, the Covid-19 experience has compounded the situation after thousands of tourism workers lost jobs at the height of lockdown measures.

Industry leaders estimate that about three quarters of workers lost jobs while others were either sent on unpaid leave or placed on half salary since March as the tourism industry took a knock because of the pandemic.

The Victoria Falls Combined Residents Association (Vifacora) has held a series of meetings with different companies demanding first preference on jobs while accusing companies of “favouritism”. Some of the meetings were held in Victoria Falls Mayor Councillor Somvelo Dlamini’s office, who confirmed to Business Chronicle that his office had received numerous complaints over the issue.

“It’s not within my mandate to deal with these issues but these affected people are locals who should pay rates to the council hence I cannot ignore them. It is the duty of trade unions to address these issues but as local leadership we cannot also ignore them for the sake of council interest,” he said.

Vifacora’s incoming chairman, Mr Kelvin Moyo, said local residents were the worst affected by job losses.

“Our findings are that most of the retrenched workers were locals who were also shortchanged in terms of packages,” he said.

“Those that have remained in some of the companies are new people, which raises questions about the authenticity and motive behind the layoffs.

“Residents appreciate the effects of Covid-19 on industry and we expect organisations to do things above board in terms of how they retrench people. We expect local residents to get first priority on the same jobs by virtue of being locals. Any systematic sidelining of locals will not be tolerated and we are unapologetic about that.”

Mr Moyo accused some companies of rushing to retrench workers instead of exhausting other alternatives and assisting locals to survive.

“Because of the nature of our industry we would appreciate it if preference for employment is given to locals rather than to import labour, which can be done only on specific skills,” he said.

“These businesses promise to provide employment to locals and plough back to the community when they want land in Victoria Falls but none of this is happening. We will continue to engage until residents’ demands are met.”

Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) Victoria Falls chapter chair Mr Anald Musonza could not be drawn into commenting specifically on alleged favouritism and only said businesses were negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. “This resulted in cost realignment in most businesses with retrenchments being inevitable. Most businesses had to cut back on staff numbers with the hope to survive this pandemic,” he said.

“Looking forward to re-hire staff back when business returns, human skills will be needed to make the hospitality industry functional again,” said Mr Musonza. —chronicle.co.zw