NRZ grapples to meet salary obligations

THE National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) is now paying at least 90 percent of its workers salaries as it moves to ensure it clears salary arrears estimated to be more than $80 million.

NRZ public relations manager Mr Nyasha Maravanyika said the parastatal would continue to partly pay its salary obligations to its workforce up until it turns profitable.

“As a way of showing our commitment to our workers, we have reached a point where we are now giving them up to 90 percent of their salaries and as the profits become adequate we will improve on the current percentage that our employees are getting,” said Mr Maravanyika.

The payment of 90 percent salary to its workers is a major improvement that has been made by the debt-ridden parastatal, which at one time went for 14 months without paying salaries, prompting its workers to down tools in 2016.

Thereafter the company has been staggering its salaries and eventually started to pay varying percentages which reached up to 50 percent as of last year.

Mr Maravanyika said the company was still in the hunt for an investor, which would commit in offsetting its salary and wages backlog estimated to be around $80 million and a legacy debt of over $150 million.

“We cannot say when we will be able to pay full salaries because we are still working on getting an investor to recapitalise and increase revenues. When revenues increase we will be able to deal with the challenge,” said Mr Maravanyika.

The railway company is facing challenges such as ageing infrastructure and equipment which has surpassed its designed span, vandalism, huge debt and lack of cheap lines of credit for retooling.

Last year, NRZ struck a $400 million deal with a South African firm Transnet and Diaspora Investment Development Group for the supply of 157 wagons, seven locomotives and seven coaches.

The joint venture did not cater for the offsetting of the company’s debt although part of the royalties from the partnership would be used to liquidate it.

NRZ was part of the critical State enterprises which includes Air Zimbabwe, Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe and Ziscosteel whose debts were assumed by Government last year as part of accelerated efforts to make the entities attractive to potential investment suitors.

“We have been negotiating with the Government to take care of the company’s debt but nothing concrete has come out of it, as we have not reached a stage where the Government has agreed to take over our debt,” said Mr Maravanyika.