via Moyo pay remarks anger ZBC workers 10/03/2014 NewZimbabwe
INFORMATION minister Jonathan Moyo has drawn the wrath of ordinary Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) workers after telling them they did not deserve a pay hike.
Speaking to journalists in Bulawayo, Moyo said ZBC workers could not demand more State funding while producing atrocious programmes which were being shunned by viewers.
“ZBC is producing content nobody is watching but the workers want to be paid. Where do you expect the government to get the money to pay you when the company’s monthly revenue collection does not tally with its astronomical salary bill,” said the minister.
“The government cannot reward you for not discharging your mandate. Do you still have public interest? First discharge your mandate before demanding rewards.
“Time has changed. You cannot continue airing jingles such as Hondo Yeminda andDai Kuri Kwedu Machembere adverts.”
Said one employee who did not want to be named: “Surely, labour laws in Zimbabwe should protect us from the Prof. First he cut our salaries by half and now he is saying this, what is our crime?”
“Our workers’ committee members are afraid of approaching the labour courts fearing for their jobs. We have been reduced to beggars and yet we play a role in disseminating the ruling party’s propaganda,” lamented another.
Regarding Moyo’s complaints about poor programming, most of the workers said they had no say on what finally goes on air as this was the responsibility of top management, adding that the minister was “shooting the messenger”.
“We have since stopped criticising our content because you can be labelled as an opposition sympathiser and you end up of losing your job. We have testimonies of our colleagues who were fired for questioning our content,” one employee said.
Some however agreed with Moyo, and said they also did watch their own productions, opting instead for international television channels.
“Watching our own production is so disturbing because it seems as if hondo yechimurenga (the war of the liberation struggle) ended yesterday because our content is always talking about that hour after hour, surely.”
Moyo’s return as information minister was met with joy when he fired the ZBC Board led by Cuthbert Dube for failing to come up with a turnaround programme for the broadcaster.
However, the decision to cut staff salaries by half, reducing them to 2010 levels has hit morale at ZBC’s Pockets Hill base in Harare.
COMMENTS
“Time has changed. You cannot continue airing jingles such as Hondo Yeminda andDai Kuri Kwedu Machembere adverts.” kikikiki!
These vultures are bickering between themselves. So what!
I wish all these useless communist era style workers committees, would be “afraid to approach the labour courts, fearing for their jobs”. You might then see factories and productivity moving again. Shut ZBC down totally, it is a useless set up.
The working culture in Zimbabwe is virtually captured in its entirety by this article. Incompetent people expect to be paid for producing nothing. Moyo is correct. Produce products that will create value to your customers then demand a pay increase. If you are good at what you do and do not agree with their model and philosophy then leave the organisation and let those who believe carry on. That is the reason you have not been paid for months on end. Stop working if you not paid. Why go to work for months on end with no pay. And its not just ZBC only, it is a perverted culture of both management and workers. Why continue working if you not paid? Why continue employing if you cant pay?
Treasonous pillagers
Dead BC requires one last service and that is a burial service. I wonder who else is still watching that station, its more like a “Mugabe TV” station. The least Dead BC cld do is collect fees for adverts flighted by the various parastals in congradulating Mugabe and Bona. Prof Moyo is right close shop and join Zanu PF fulltime you pinheads
We need to keep up the pressure on the government or else they will regroup like they did post 2008. These are deadly vipers who have hoodwinked this nation for nearly 40 years. I will only be happy when true democracy & good governance becomes the order of the day.
Chickens always come back to roost. It was simply fool-hard for ZBC workers to believe they would continue playing ZANU PF puppets ad infinitum without the same coming back to haunt them. They should have known better that while ZANU PF may be in power it is not the state or the public; and ZBC belongs to the latter not to ZANU PF. The state or the public pay their salaries, not ZANU PF, the sooner they realized it the better. In short, Moyo is simply telling them what only some in Ngomahuru mental hospital wouldn’t know.
This commedy is more hillarious than “Sabhuku Vharazipi” Folks, listen to this:
ZBC Workers
“Our workers’ committee members are afraid of approaching the labour courts fearing for their jobs. We have been reduced to beggars and yet we play a role in disseminating the ruling party’s propaganda,”
“We have since stopped criticising our content because you can be labelled as an opposition sympathiser and you end up of losing your job. We have testimonies of our colleagues who were fired for questioning our content,”
“Watching our own production is so disturbing because it seems as if hondo yechimurenga (the war of the liberation struggle) ended yesterday because our content is always talking about that hour after hour, surely.”
ZBC Minister
“ZBC is producing content nobody is watching but the workers want to be paid. Where do you expect the government to get the money to pay you when the company’s monthly revenue collection does not tally with its astronomical salary bill,” said the minister.“The government cannot reward you for not discharging your mandate. Do you still have public interest? First discharge your mandate before demanding rewards.“Time has changed. You cannot continue airing jingles such as Hondo Yeminda andDai Kuri Kwedu Machembere adverts.”
Kikikikiki…kwakwakwakwakwakwakwakwa..bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!
De politicise the whole of ZBC and get a professional private player to give Zimbabwe some decent material for a change. We are truly sick of this whole affair and my heart breaks for those workers. People are so desperate for a few miserable dollars that they cling to a job they hate. Talk to the guys who used to collect liciencing fees.
it is the same jonso who gave birth to this zbc production rubbish. now he’s nauseated by his vomit. Zanu pf indeed.