DeniAfrica

BusinessinAfrica reports on the progress of privitization in Tanzania:

“Privatisation creates jobs in long run. You have to bear in mind that we had companies that were failing and privatisation reopened them and created employment where there would have been none. In other cases you had companies that were overstaffed with resultant retrenchments and redeployments. And then there’s employment created downstream outside the companies themselves. For example, the Breweries in its three companies employs a total 700 people directly. But outside the companies they employ about 320 000 people in downstream activities like distribution and retail outlets.” Although the number of employment opportunities created by privatisation is, in Kavishe’s words, “a moving target”, the quality of jobs has certainly improved. “When the Breweries was privatised, the minimum wage was 5000 shillings. It is now twice that,”says Dr E Kavishe coordinator of Presidential Parastatal Sector Reform Commission.