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Harare Bureau
MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai is failing to pay workers he recruited for the parallel government structures when he was still prime minister, with hordes of them besieging his office and home last week demanding their dues. The workers, numbering nearly 30, blocked Tsvangirai from leaving his office at Harvest House, while others followed him to his Highlands home asking for audience with him.
Tsvangirai created the parallel government structures when donors were still interested in his illegal regime change ambitions and were availing funds to pay the extra staff.
But sources said the donors have since fled after realising that Tsvangirai’s prospects ended with his overwhelming defeat at the hands of Zanu-PF, thereby exposing him to the embarrassment of failing to meet some of his obligations.
A group of 15 workers from the security department besieged the party’s Harvest House offices on Friday demanding their packages and outstanding salaries.
They blocked Tsvangirai from leaving until he addressed them.
He ended up pleading with the workers and made some undertakings to pay them.
Another group of employees who worked in the communications office along Bath Road in Avondale followed Tsvangirai to his Highlands house where they demanded their outstanding money some two weeks ago.
Tsvangirai, according to the sources, saved himself after making yet other promises to pay the group.
“For the past three months, we have not been paid and we are not going to work,” said one of the workers.
“We were promised some packages in the event that MDC-T lost the harmonised election, but since the election period we have not been paid.
“We have had empty promises and on Friday our colleagues in the security department besieged Tsvangirai’s offices and threatened not to leave until they got paid. He had to plead with the workers until they left.
“Tsvangirai promised to pay and the people now look forward to seeing if he will honour his promise.”
Some of the workers in the security team are now street vendors in a bid to make ends meet.
Tsvangirai’s parallel office employed almost 30 people who are now wallowing in poverty as they failed to get retrenchment packages and outstanding salaries following the phasing out of the office after elections.
The workers, who operated mainly from Tsvangirai’s Bath Road offices in Avondale, Harare, said they were promised jobs in Government in the event that MDC-T won the polls.
They were dumped after the party lost dismally.
Most of the workers are from the communication, research and security departments.
They were funded by the Institute of Democratic Alternative of Zimbabwe (IDAZ) and some undisclosed donors.
The workers argued that when Tsvangirai addressed them before the elections, he promised that they would get packages if the party lost, but they have not been paid since September.
Tsvangirai’s spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka said he did not want to discuss the matter with the press.
“I do not know anything about that and even if I knew something I will not have discussed such issues with the Herald,” he said.
President Mugabe romped to victory in the 31 July polls with 61,09 percent of the presidential vote against Tsvangirai’s 33,94 percent, with Zanu-PF clinching 160 seats out of the contested 210 National Assembly constituencies to get a crushing 76 percent dominance in the Lower House.
After factoring in 60 women’s quota seats elected by proportional representation of six for each of the 10 provinces, the final composition of the 270-member National Assembly comes to 197 seats for Zanu-PF, 70 for MDC-T, two for MDC, and one independent, giving Zanu-PF just under 73 percent of the total seats, but well over the two thirds majority threshold of 180 seats.
Online Reporter