Zimbabwean workers are some of the most affected labourers in the world, due to poor governance, corruption, partisan deployment of incompetent individuals and outright regionalism, the opposition party ZAPU has said.
ZAPU claimed the Zanu PF government was presiding over corruption cartels and captured statutory institutions and while continuing to attribute its failures to “easy scapegoats such as colonialism and Western sanctions.”
These remarks come as ZAPU marked Workers Day on Wednesday, noting that reports received from provincial leaders across the country indicate there was nothing to show for a day normally celebrated by workers across the world.
“Salaries eroded by decades of currency instability have trapped workers in endless debt-wage spirals. After deductions on hire-purchase and repayments to loan sharks, most workers go home empty handed,” said ZAPU Presidential Spokesperson, Patron Nketha.
“There are other factors that have destroyed workers’ rights and determination to support productivity actively, and reduced their dignity.”
Nketha said for starters, the Affirmative Action Group (AAG), which was used to empower politically connected individuals, was affiliated to Zanu PF and had “grabbed productive firms only to run them into the ground.”
He added that incidentally, the 2015 ZUVA Petroleum judgement that resulted in thousands of workers getting laid off on three months’ notice continues to instil fear among ordinary workers, even though it was ruled unlawful by the Labour Court in 2017.
“Fearing dismissal without adequate compensation, many workers are suffering in silence, under poor management, with lack of growth opportunities and limited recognition,” Nketha said. In mining, the ZAPU presidential spokesperson said several fatal accidents have been reported and documented with mining operations run by “Zanu PF’s Gold Mafia have shown little concern for the safety of their workers.”
“Neither are they keen to protect the environment they operate in. Many ignore directives and fines imposed by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA),” Nketha said.
“In the farming sector, most workers are exposed to dangerous chemicals without protective clothing. Clinics that used to treat workers near factories and on some farms have collapsed.”
Nketha bemoaned how pensioners are effectively destitute with defunct medical aid schemes and “empty” bank accounts.
“The monthly pittances they receive from National Social Security Authority (NSSA) amount to insults in the majority of cases. Above all, we are faced with the realities of a Workers’ Day with the vast majority of Zimbabweans out of work,” he said.
“What justifies a whole public holiday for workers when more than 75 percent of employable Zimbabweans are either unemployed or relegated to the informal sector, surviving from hand to mouth?”
The ZAPU spokesperson also lamented how trade unions have been rendered weak when only a “subdued” minority are formally employed.
“Job creation is an obligation of the government and private investors incentivised by a pro-people government. Zimbabwe needs deliberate government policies to foster job creation for all Zimbabweans,” he said.
Nketha said immigrants who were fleeing conflict and economic collapse continue to endure poor working conditions and inadequate remuneration.
“Policy changes in developed countries like the United Kingdom have resulted in workers getting separated from their families as spouses and children are now precluded from visas and relocation permits,” he said.
“The psycho-social trauma caused by enforced separations cannot be overemphasised. In other cases, workers forced to seek greener pastures have drowned in overloaded ferries during illegal crossings from Africa to Europe and parts of the Middle East. Human traffickers have also taken advantage of desperate workers, who end up subjected to conditions of slavery at the hands of cruel employers.”
Nketa said workers deserved to have dignity and should have fair treatment with decent remuneration, strengthened by a progressive relationship between labour and capital. “Employers who can provide accommodation or other benefits outside wages and salaries should do everything to alleviate the plight of their workers,” he said.
“Young, innovative Zimbabweans with innovative ideas should be supported by local banks and venture capitalists, to launch start-ups that can create employment for a whole generation of millennials who have never clocked in for a formal job.”
