Sucre Ethique - Mozambique : Zimbabwean Manager Loses Work Permit

mardi 27 avril 2010

Maputo — Mozambican Labour Minister Helena Taipo has cancelled the work permit of a Zimbabwean citizen, Stewart Goss, who is accused of ill-treating Mozambican workers and of racist attitudes.

Goss worked for the milling company Compagri, which is based in the central Mozambican city of Chimoio, and managed the Compagri branch at Matundo in Tete province.

Compagri is part of the Agriterra group, whose registered office is in Guernsey in the British Channel Islands. The chairman of Agriterra, former England cricketer Phil Edmonds, is no stranger to controversy. He was also chairman of the Central African Mining and Exploration company (CAMEC), which was the main investor in Procana, a project to produce ethanol in the southern Mozambican district of Massingir.

After two years, the promised 500 million dollars investment in Procana had not materialized, and all the company had done was clear 800 hectares of the 30,000 hectares allotted to it. The government cancelled the contract with Procana.

A press release from the Labour Ministry said that Taipo’s decision to withdraw Goss’s work permit followed inspections carried out by her Ministry and by the Tete provincial government.

These found that Goss had been sacking without just cause members of the 100 strong Mozambican workforce at the Matundo branch of Agriterra, and had discounted social security contributions from the workers’ wages - but had failed to forward them to the National Social Security Institute (INSS).

He was also accused of banning trade union freedoms and freedom of expression in the company, and of illegally recruiting foreign workers.

The inspection at Matundo also led to the suspension of a second Zimbabwean, Heather Kay, an administrative and financial assistant illegally hired by Goss.

Goss has not been expelled from Mozambique, but Taipo’s decision means that he is no longer able to work in the country.

Pf/ (310) 101410 GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES NEW MINIMUM WAGES

Maputo, 27 Apr (AIM) - The Mozambican government on Tuesday approved the proposals for new statutory minimum wages proposed last week by the Labour Consultative Commission (CCT), the tripartite negotiating commission between the government, the employers’ associations and the trade unions.

There is no longer a single national minimum wage - instead the minimum wage is negotiated by sector. Since there are nine sectors and two sub-sectors, there are effectively eleven separate minimum wages in the country.

This year’s wage increases range from 6.2 per cent for sugar workers to 26.9 per cent for workers in financial services.

The list, as read out to reporters by the government spokesperson, Deputy Justice Minister Alberto Nkutumula, is as follows :

1. Agriculture and Forestry - a rise of 13.15 per cent, bringing the monthly minimum wage to 1,682 meticais 1a) Sugar - 6.2 per cent (1,593 meticais) 2. Fisheries - 7.3 per cent (2,200 meticais) 2a) Kapenta (Lake Tanganyika sardine) fishery on Cahora Bassa lake - 10 per cent (2,090 meticais) 3. Mining - 13.2 per cent (2,400 meticais) 4. Manufacturing industry - 8.54 per cent (2,497 meticais) 5. Electricity, gas and water - 10.78 per cent (2,662 meticais) 6. Construction - 15.13 per cent (2,435 meticais) 7. Non-financial services - 13.33 per cent (2,550 meticais) 8. Financial activities - 26.9 per cent (3,483 meticais) 9. Public administration, defence and security - 9 per cent (2,270 meticais).

The Bank of Mozambique average exchange rate for Tuesday is 34.1 meticais to the US dollar. So the new minimum wages are equivalent to between 47 and 102 US dollars a month. As in past years, these wage increases are all backdated to 1 April.

The increases only apply to the minimum wage. In the private sector anything above the minimum wage is subject to collective bargaining between the trade unions and the employer in any particular company.