Zimbabwe Cricket fires workers

Zimbabwe Cricket fires workers PDF Print E-mail

Saturday, 31 March 2012 22:55

Tinashe Kusema

Zimbabwe Cricket employees are set to lose their jobs after the mother body terminated their contracts to pave way for a new recruitment scheme.

The development, which takes effect today, will see ZC employing its personnel on a seasonal basis only.

The new cricket season is not on until October, lasting up to March.

The board moved to cut their employees’ wages by 30 percent after last year’s hectic season in which Zimbabwe took part in three financially draining tours. First to be affected by this new system were the national team players who saw their salaries reduced and contracts terminated to make way for a seven-month new contract system.

According to documents in the possession of The Sunday Mail, a severely trimmed workforce remains in place to take charge of the day-to-day administration of the organisation.

“Please be advised that your contract of employment with Zimbabwe Cricket will not be renewed when it expires on March 31 2012.

“Zimbabwe Cricket is hereby giving you three months’ notice of termination of your employment contract from January 1 to March 31, in line with clause 6.1 of your contract of

employment which deals with ‘termination of service-notice period’.

“Your last day of service shall be March 31,” read the notice received by most employees.

It is further believed that more than half of the Zimbabwe Cricket staff have since been on either forced leave or already left, with their termination taking effect today.

Zimbabwe Cricket media and communication manager Shingai Rhuhwaya has since confirmed this development, saying it is but a common practice in cricketing nations that Zimbabwe has only just decided to follow.

“As far as administration is concerned, we have since noticed that it does not really make sense for us to have a full-time staff for the duration of the year, especially given the fact we do not play cricket throughout the year. Besides, it not being logical, it is also not financially feasible, so we have decided to have clearly defined seasons which run from October to March,” she said.

The Zimbabwe Test squad is readying for visits by South Africa and Bangladesh later this year.