ZBC Workers Want Meeting With ED, Say They Are Not...

ZBC Workers Want Meeting With ED, Say They Are Not Prepared For The 2023 Elections

Zim Now Writer

Zimbabwe Broadcasting Cooperation employees have requested that Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services facilitates their meeting with President Emmerson Mnangagwa to discuss staff welfare and readiness of the state broadcaster to cover 2023 elections.

“ZBC employees have since declared incapacitation and are requesting your office to facilitate a meeting with the Head of State to hand over a petition and highlight several issues that have been affecting them,” reads a memorandum dated October 6 that is addressed to Information Permanent Secretary Nick Mangwana and copied to Chief Director Dr Jonathan Gandari.

“We are not prepared for the 2023 elections period due to lack of resources, transport and equipment. Staff morale is also very low,” reads the memo.

ZBC Worker’s Committee chairperson Godfrey Maregere would neither confirm or deny ownership of the letter asking Zim Now to call him after 18:00 hrs.

Several ZBC staffers who requested anonymity confirmed the existence of such a memo but said they have not yet received confirmation that the draft circulated has been handed over to the named recipients.

The workers told Zim Now that the situation at ZBC is now untenable and workers feel that their concerns have been swept aside by their management.

A sentiment that is reflected in the memo: “This comes after months of requests by employees to meet the First Citizen, which has been delayed by the ZBC workers’ committee with the hope that a long-lasting solution would be found for the problems bedeviling the cooperation and employees.”

The workers cite collapse of relations between staff and the chief executive officer Ms Adelaide Chikunguru.

Chikunguru went on record a few months ago inferring sabotage by some unnamed figures as the reason for her lackluster performance since she took the helm of ZBC.

The memo outlines several areas that employees want addressed as a matter of urgency.

The main points highlighted in the correspondence include welfare of staff whereby the committee feels their employer has failed to comply with the National Employment Council minimum salaries and pension levels.

The workers state they have not been paid five months’ worth of their Covid-19 allowances.

Other concerns are abuse of company resources, victimization, high staff turnover, and ever deteriorating standards in terms of content, brand and production.