Zimbabwe: Sino-Hydro under spotlight for labour violation

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Investigations by this publication have revealed that Sino-Hydro, a state-owned company, has for a long time punished local employees considered to have erred using methods that are against the Labour Act and the Zimbabwean constitution.

In 2014, the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) awarded Sino-Hydro a US$1.1 billion contract for electricity expansion at the Hwange Thermal Power Station in northern Zimbabwe, operating and maintaining units 7 and 8 to add 600 megawatts to the national power grid.

The project loan was sourced from the Export-Import Bank of China.

While the project was completed and commissioned in August 2023—with President Emmerson Mnangagwa officiating at the ceremony—Sino-Hydro is still on the ground, tasked with skills transfers and other routine operations for five years.

The company is also entitled to a 36 percent stake in dividends from the power plant till 2028.

Arbitrary

Through primary documents, interviews and online monitoring, NewsHub tracked scores of cases of arbitrary and ad hoc disciplinary action taken against Sino-Hydro employees.

The cases show that the company has for years been deducting money from “offending workers” without subjecting them to disciplinary procedures as specified by the law.

The Zimbabwean constitution lays the foundation for fair treatment of employees at the workplace.

Section 68 (1) provides for fair administrative justice: “Every person has a right to administrative conduct that is lawful, prompt, efficient, reasonable, proportionate, impartial both substantively and procedurally fair”.

Section 65(1) stipulates: “Every person has the right to fair and safe labour practices and standards”, while Section 65 (4) says: “Every employee is entitled to just, equitable and satisfactory conditions of work”.

The Labour Act (Chapter 28:01) that was amended in 2019 makes specific provisions relating to disciplinary proceedings and fair labour practices.

Section 6(1)(e) of the statute prohibits employers from hindering or preventing employees from seeking access to lawful proceedings that are necessary to advance or protect their rights or interests.

Section 12A prohibits deductions from an employee’s remuneration, with the exception of some conditions.

Under this section, deductions are permissible where the employer is compelled by law to make a payment on behalf of the worker and can then recoup the money or if an employee has received an advance of remuneration.

But in the second scenario, the deduction must not exceed a quarter of the employee’s salary.

A deduction is also permissible where there is a written stop-order for contributions to insurance policies, pension funds, medical aid societies, building societies, burial societies and registered trade unions.

An employer can also fairly make deductions from a worker’s remuneration in cases where there is a written consent of the employee for repayment of money lent to him or her by the employer as mutually agreed.

In circumstances where the employer paid more than is contractually agreed in error, the amount can be recovered from the employee’s remuneration.

The law also provides for a fair disciplinary procedures at which employees accused of wrongdoing are accorded a fair hearing and legal representation before a decision on their actions is made.

Non-compliant

It was established, though, that Sino-Hydro is not adhering to the provisions of the law when it decides to deduct money from its employees for perceived transgressions that include minor offences like unintentionally breaking measuring cylinders in the laboratory and taking a rest at the workplace.

Instead, it is using a controversial model of punishment and reward that it calls the Performance Assessment Standard of Operation.

This performance evaluation model has its origin in China where it is particularly used on civil servants, it emerged.

Conducted once a year, the system is designed to promote “high ideological and political quality, strong working ability and outstanding working ability” among the workers.

Sino-Hydro has adapted the model and now uses it to unilaterally and arbitrarily deduct money from employees’ salaries without giving them the chance to defend themselves at disciplinary hearings, NewsHub discovered.

The multi-national is using in-house declarations that it has titled “Operation Department Penalty Notification” to fix and announce fines against its employees.

Practically, fining an employee implies that the management has assessed the alleged offence and determined the punishment.

There are numerous such cases as shown in the notices leaked to NewsHub, and a few are presented here to demonstrate Sino-Hydro’s illegal labour practices.

SinoHydro manager, Andre Duani confirmed the company was deducting money from salaries of the workers without subjecting them to disciplinary hearings.

“If any employee violates labour discipline rules, safety production management regulations, and so on, the project will assess their performance bonus in accordance with regulations as either a reward or penalty,” he said.

Driving out to refuel

One of the notices shows that a truck driver, Francis Reason Chuma, and his supervisor, Brighton Dube, had at one time their salaries deducted by US$500 each.

They had driven a company vehicle out of the plant for refueling and brought it back later on the same day.

Management insisted that the mechanical vehicle was supposed to be confined to the factory area.

“According to Article 10 of the regulations on further strengthening the management of vehicles in coal yards, mechanical vehicles can only operate within the factory area,” reads part of the notice.

Company drivers earn an average US$460 a month, so Chuma got nothing for the month in question.

“Casual attitude”

Another notice shows that a chemical operator, Trust Moyo, had US$100 deducted from his salary in June 2024.

Management alleged in the notice that Moyo had a “casual attitude towards work”.

According to the notice, Moyo, who was on night shift, was tasked by the chief chemical operator to conduct an unspecified laboratory test but failed to do so.

Instead, the chemical operator reportedly went to sleep.

The notice concludes that he “has a casual attitude towards work, (is) perfunctory in work tasks and (did not) perform the work tasks assigned by the chief operator”.

“The chemical operator cannot be strict with themselves and violate labour discipline (sic),” says the notice that adds: “He made an extremely bad demonstration to other employees, played a very negative role in chemical testing work, and the impact was extremely bad”.

The notice does not prove the negative impact of the alleged neglect.

Workers who spoke to this publication insisted that the notices, which are shared publicly, are “highly defamatory” as they generally contain unfounded allegations.

“Randomness at work”

Another notice shows that a SinoHydro coal yard driver, Trymore Mbila, had his salary deducted by US$50 for an alleged offence of “low sense of responsibility at work, a lot of randomness…lack of self-control, and an improper work attitude.”

Chinese managers on observations reportedly found Mbila absent from his work station around 8pm on 23 February 2024.

“(The) coal yard driver cannot strictly abide by the company’s rules and regulations, cannot be strict with themselves, and violate the company’s relevant regulations and requirements (sic),” reads the notice.

The notice warns other employees against absenting themselves from work and says, in future, those that fail to arrive for a shift at least 30 minutes before time will be fined an arbitrary US$15 while absenting oneself without leave will attract a US$50 fine.

“Please take it as a warning and correct your work attitude,” the notice states.

The following month, Chrispus Sakala, a coal conveyor, was also fined US$50 for allegedly leaving the plant without authority.

Acid valve

In February 2024, another employee identified only as Godknows was fined US$75 for forgetting to close acid valves at two of the company’s tanks.

This allegedly led to a reflux or reverse flow of the liquid.

SinoHydro, according to workers who were interviewed, is constantly threatening them with dismissal for questioning controversial decisions made by the management.

One of the employee indicated that they had shared their written grievances with the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), which is ZPC’s mother company.

However, they never received a response from ZESA.

In a 21 March 2024 letter addressed to the ZESA executive board chairperson, Sydney Gata, the Sino-Hydro workers’ committee requested a blanket reversal of the illegal deductions.

The letter was co-signed by the workers’ committee chairperson, Calvin Mudiwa, and his deputy, Tinotenda Silas.

According to the employee representatives, they were forced to establish the workers’ committee in February following a string of labour rights violations by Sino-Hydro.

“The company has set up a fining system where employees can be charged as much as US$70USD, and this is being deducted from their salaries. We request that all deductions made to date be reversed and employees be reimbursed their monies.

“Employees (are) subjected to harsh working conditions and this has led to a high rate of employee turnover. It is the constant disappointments that led the employees to push for the creation of a workers committee,” reads the letter.

Investigations also established that the workers once reached out to the Zimbabwe Energy Workers Union, which in turn engaged Sino-Hydro on the matter.

However, the Chinese company has not stopped the violations.

Labour rights lawyers confirmed the illegality of the deductions by Sino-Hydro.

Edzai Edson Matika of Matika, Gwisai and Partners, condemned the deductions.

“Where the employee has committed a misconduct, the employer cannot automatically make a deduction from the employee’s remuneration. The employee is supposed to be subjected to a hearing to establish whether the employee has committed the alleged misconduct.

“After that, when the employee is found guilty of misconduct, an employer can be allowed to deduct as a punishment to the employee.

“So this practice by the employer (Sino-Hydro) is actually an unfair labour practice. It’s a violation of the employee’s constitutional right to be remunerated and to be subjected to fair labour practices. Such deductions are unlawful and the workers can actually sue to recover their monies,” Matika told NewsHub.

Another labour expert, Charles Chikozho who is a former Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) legal officer, urged the company to desist from making arbitrary deductions on salaries.

ZESA’s Gata first claimed that the dispute over deductions had been resolved.

“This issue has already been attended to by ZESA Holdings and it appears that your information is likely to be outdated,” he said.

However, when he was told that the violations still persisted, he distanced ZESA from the issue, insisting that the aggrieved workers must engage Sino-Hydro.

“They (SinoHydro workers) know very well that Zesa is not their employer,” he said.