The Zambian cabinet has approved a review of a statutory instrument on the review of the minimum wages and conditions of service for low income earners, including domestic workers, shop workers and employees covered under the General Order.
President Hakainde Hichilema had, on October 30, called on the cabinet during its meeting at the State House to deliberate on policy and legislative matters that would foster national development and improve the general livelihood of the people.
Chief Government Spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa, who announced the review on Wednesday in a statement in Lusaka, said the initiative was adopted following the recommendation of the Tripartite Consultative Labour Council meeting at which government, trade unions and the representatives of employers agreed to review the existing minimum wages and conditions of employment.
“The proposed revision in minimum wages has been necessitated mainly due to the changes in the cost of living, the average national earnings, inflation, unemployment rate and capacity of employers to pay,” Mweetwa said.
He added that the revision of the minimum wages and conditions of service was in line with the International Labour Organisation Convention No. 131, the Minimum Wage Fixing Convention for Protection of Vulnerable Workers.
Mweetwa noted that the cabinet was of the view that the category of affected workers needed “some kind of relief to enable them meet their needs and support to their families” owing to the rising cost of living in the country.
Mweeta also said the cabinet had approved the issuance of the National Pension Scheme Penalty Waiver Regulations which is aimed to operationalise the provisions of the National Pension Scheme Amendment Act No. 20 of 2022 on the Penalty Waiver.
He said the Statutory Instrument on the penalty waiver was intended to reduce the debt burden for businesses and allow employers to clear their outstanding dues with NAPSA with the incentive that part of the debt would be written off.
“It will provide relief to businesses that were hard hit during the Covid-19 pandemic, encourage small-scale businesses including employers from the informal economy such as employers of domestic workers, to register their employees with the scheme without worrying about high penalties for non-payment of past contributions,” Mweetwa added.