Harare(ZimEye)-The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings, the sole broadcaster in the country’s finances are in shambles and the company has now put a emergency moratorium on wage reviews this year.
On Wednesday at the company’s Pockets Hill head offices tempers flared up between workers and the management during a meeting to review the company’s operations, with workers accusing the management of turning deaf ears on their demands for salary review whilst awarding themselves hefty packages.
Sources which attended the meeting said the meeting which was chaired by the chief executive officer Happison Muchechetere became emotional when he announced that the company was not in a position to award them the 20 percent salary adjustment.
Instead Muchechetere is said to have proposed a moratorium on wage reviews, and this did not go down well with the workers who queried the company’s financial position accusing management of embarking on a recruitment drive which saw the wage bill ballooning to unsustainable levels.
He is also said to have proposed retrenchment, a suggestion which was another bitter pill as the workers felt they are now being sacrificed for poor management decisions.
“They refuse to listen to our grievances even our advice. Last year they embarked on a recruitment drive which saw the wage bill ballooning at a time when cash inflows are minimal”, fumed one worker who refused to be named said.
Another source who attended the meeting said it heated up when workers demanded to know the salary of the least paid manager.
Muchechetere failed to answer this question and ended up rather lashing back at them saying the least paid worker at the company was taking home more than what permanent secretaries earn.
ZBH senior managers are believed to be taking home between US$4000-$6000 monthly exclusive of allowances whilst the lowest paid worker takes home around US$300 per month.
According to one manager who refused to be named, the company has been operating on a hand to mouth basis for some time now as traditional sources for revenue have either dried up or being inefficiently managed.
Among the major sources for revenue for the state broadcaster is the licensing department, whose contribution has recently nose-dived as viewers and listeners’ no longer pay them.
Advertisers have also not been forthcoming with some running away from the astronomical charges being levied whilst others choosing other media avenues in order to realize value. Poor programming has also scared away advertisers.
The ZBC is the sole broadcaster in the country and of late the company has been failing to pay workers salaries on time with some getting paid a week later from the due salary date. Apart from financial problems, said the sources, most of the broadcaster’s transmission equipment and cameras are obsolete and constantly break down.
The corporation is now heavily reliant on innovative technician who “cannibalise”broken down equipment to keep the public broadcaster going.
The managers drive top-of-the-range vehicles that leave executives leading profit-making entities on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange green with envy.
The corporation’s chief executive officer Happison Muchechetere drives a classy Mercedes Benz, an S350, valued at nearly US$200 000.
Other managers drive the latest Land cruisers.
Efforts ZimEye to get a comment from Muchechetere were fruitless as his mobile phone was not reachable.
ZBH presently employs over 900 workers.
14 Replies to “Struggling ZBC freezes salaries”
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mashaya
saka naOscar anowanowo mari SHOMA neNOISE yanoita pamhepo…Hupenyu!!
deadbc
zvino Walter achaiwanepi mari yekudzorera Barwe iwo masalaries a freezwa??? anochitofira zvake mujere
mandevere kusadzidza kunokunetsai mukangosvika grade 7 makutoenda kuGoli regai vatonge wats yo prob
ZBC ikavhara zvitori nani, taneta nekuona zvinhu zveZanu nekunzwa nhau dzemanyepo
ZBC run by war vets. Some border gezi youths in management positions. Ghost workers 4rm national service on its payroll. Poor ZANU BROADCASTING COP. I last watched zbc in 1999. I dnt mind if pf closes ths thing. I feel pity for miki who is so patriotic tht he cannot afford 2 loose the station. Whch advertiser in hs right state of mind wud advertise on a dying party station. Bla miki, being patriotic does nt mean yo brains shud seize to function. Dont show us yo lunacy miki
Philip abantu laba bafana lamagundwane abawadlayo. A rat destroys anything it comes across.
Chipangamazano uri mhata, chii chinodadisa pamatsotsi?
Everything that these shona bere have touched they have destroyed! They are only good for one thing – wiping the arse of the white man in England. They have destroyed, looted, plundered everything that they have touched in Zimbabwe. They are a million times worse than the ugliest bere in the Zambezi. What is it with you shona’s, why do you destroy everything? This year you are not going to have any mielies to feed yourselves comrades – AND then you are going to be all easy targets!!!!
happison, a war vet, hama yangu vanonhuhwa mari
Zvekunyepa izyi Zimeye, ukawana basa ikoko ungariramba iwe?
this Muchechetere idiot takes pride in idiocy xa!
Gud news just close ur useless ZBC we are tired of watching the shona man beating witches drum n zanu propaganda everyday kundu!kundu!kundu!kundu!kundu!kundu! I don’t even bother my self to pay i tv licence yenu