MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL SECURITY
PRESS RELEASE
(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)
STRENGTHEN SOLUTIONS TO INFORMALITY ON LABOUR MARKET SADC MEMBER STATES IMPLORED
Vitoria Falls Town, Zimbabwe, 24th March 2025… The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Employment and Labour Sector, has urged member States to be intent on stopping informality on the labour market, which stands at 85.5% in Africa, according to statistics provided by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
As a way of tackling informality, SADC proposed the integration of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) into the formal economy, as they are forces in employment-generation and transformation, within the African region.
This was during the SADC senior officials meeting, which is a preparatory meeting for the Meeting of Ministers of Employment and Labour and Social Partners, which officially opens on March 27, 2024 at Elephant Hills Resort in Victoria Falls Town in Zimbabwe.
Opening the Senior officials meeting, Chairperson of the SADC Employment and Labour Sector, and Permanent Secretary for Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare in Zimbabwe, Simon Masanga said; there’s need to plan and come up with a quick fix to the informal economy which deprives workers in the informal sector of social protection, fair wages, and adequate working conditions.
The chairperson emphasized that employment remains at the core of sustainable development and industrialization in the region, hence the need to transition from informality to formality and equipping citizens with the skills they need to thrive in the 21st-century digitalized economy.
Ministry of labour and Social Security Permanent Secretary, Zechariah Luhanga informed the meeting that Zambia has made exceptional steps in reviewing the National employment policy to address issues on the labour market among them informality.
He also indicated that Zambia is mitigating the impacts of climate change by integrating solar as a primary energy source, to reduce reliance on Hydro energy, which affected productivity output on the labour market last year, when the country experienced drought.
Social partners, Zambia Congress of Trade Unions President Blake Mulala and Zambia Federation of Employers executive director Harrington Chibanda were also in attendance.
Issued by:
Mwaka Ndawa (MS)
Principal Public Relations Officer
