ZIDA Advised to Consider Skills Transfer When Issuing Licenses
The Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (ZIDA) has been urged to adopt policies that ensure foreign investors employ 99% of their workforce from the local labour pool, promoting skills transfer and preventing the export of jobs, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
Speaking to Mining Zimbabwe on the sidelines of the ZIDA stakeholders engagement forum held at Rainbow Hotel on Tuesday, Last Matema, Secretary General of the Indigenous Advisory Practitioners Association of Zimbabwe (IAPAZ), emphasized that most investors entering Zimbabwe are bringing in foreign expertise, which does not benefit the local population.
“We are contributing to ZIDA’s strategy to promote both domestic and foreign investment. However, as IAPAZ, we are advocating for a platform where ZIDA can connect local associations with foreign entities to facilitate knowledge transfer and collaboration. Many of the investors we attract are importing skills. We need initiatives to promote our local talent so they can take advantage of the numerous opportunities in the country,” Matema said.
Also speaking to Mining Zimbabwe at the event, Hazel Karoro, Secretary General of the Association of Junior Mining Professionals of Zimbabwe (AJMPZ), expressed her organization’s readiness to collaborate with institutions like ZIDA and provide a database of skilled Zimbabwean workers to ensure investors do not overspend on finding qualified labor.
“As AJMPZ, we have the skill set within our organization, and the database is available. We are willing to share it free of charge to ensure mining companies acquire the appropriate skills without overspending,” Karoro said.