Attorney-at-law and senior partner Farai Masaisai is slamming the Prime Minister over the hundreds of recent URP dismissals, calling the situation 'very sad' and stressing that government is not dealing with ghosts, but with real human beings.
00:00Attorney at law Fariai Musaisai tells the Morning Edition the government is hiding behind political rhetoric about corruption and ghost gangs, but legally the proper process for termination was ignored.
00:14He warns that both the industrial and high courts take a hard line on summary dismissals and compensation for workers, noting that already fired workers are seeking legal representation.
00:28Attorneys bring matters to court. It's basically a win-win situation where millions of dollars, if you take for example the recent sending home of say about 400 or 600 URP workers last week and you think the quantum of damages may be on average 100,000 per worker, you multiply that by 400, that is ridiculous.
00:58There's a lot of taxpayers' money that will have to be paid in compensation for basically recklessness.
01:06The attorney condemns what he describes as the government's carte blanche approach to the dismissals, calling it deeply troubling and unfair.
01:15He stresses that these are not ghosts, but living, breathing human beings, and if they are being branded as criminals, then their dismissal letters should say so.
01:26Musaisai argues that not all workers can be painted with the same brush, warning that such generalization is unfair and unacceptable.
01:36The attorney adds that the prime minister should know better.
01:40And I say that it's very dangerous and unsymbolic rhetoric for a prime minister to say about a body of workers, because she does not know each individual worker.
01:55She does not know their circumstances.
01:57So you would think that she would be a little more circumspect.
02:01So 400 persons are sent home, all of them are criminals?
02:04I don't.
02:06He says the only persons who are happy right now are the lawyers, and they are prepared, and they know the precedence, and are prepared to go to court.
02:16Your salary is your property.
02:19If someone takes that from you, you have breached a fundamental constitutional right.
02:24You know, we have ways of compensating persons for breaching fundamental rights, and the courts compensate.
02:34They give aggravated damages, they give vindicatory damages, they give exemplary damages, they frong upon it.
02:40The local government minister, Khadijah Amin, has said the URP audits revealed widespread corruption, including ghost employees and gangs siphoning funds.
02:53Adding that the prime minister has taken a firm stand to eliminate this, ensuring real people gain meaningful, sustainable jobs, while saving money to expand employment opportunities across the program.
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