adminCuthbert Mavheko
The advent of Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 came as a great beacon light of hope to legions of workers in the country, especially those in industry, who had sweltered, for donkey years, in the scorching heat of poverty and repression under white colonial rule.
It is worth noting that during the colonial era, the exploitation of black workers was rife in all sectors of the economy. The majority of them worked in industry, where they were paid paltry remuneration.
These workers lived with their huge, extended families in conditions of squalor and poverty that defied all forms of civilised logic.
In 1977, for instance, over 90 percent of black workers in Salisbury (now Harare), received pathetic wages and salaries, which were far below the Poverty Datum Line (PDL).
The fall in real wages between 1975 and 1979 sent the already bad living standards of most of these workers tumbling to alarming levels.
As far as the racist white employers in industry were concerned, blacks were racially inferior, illiterate and were to be over-worked, paid a mere pittance and discarded like condoms when they were incapacitated by illness or old age.
The tragic irony is that almost 39 years after the demise of colonial rule in Zimbabwe, the majority of workers in industry are still crippled by the manacles of oppression and the fetters of economic exploitation.
According to a survey by one labour consultancy firm, the minimum wages in industry for the period 2014-2015, were as follows: Pulp and Paper Manufacturing-$175.00; Catering-$200.00;Ceramic-$200.00; Plastics-$196.00; Manufacturing-$198.00 and Sugar Milling-$170.00.
The ZimStat data on the Poverty Datum Line, from October 2017 shows that the Total Consumption Poverty Line(TCPL), for an average of five people per household stood at $521.81.
This figure has since soared to about $600.00 a month, according to some reports.
It is a terrible miscarriage of justice that while workers are the creators of the country’s wealth, the majority of them today find themselves marooned on a small island of poverty.
Poverty is so widespread among workers in industry that the majority of them have nose-dived into the chilly dungeons of pauperism, despite being “gainfully” employed.
Due to pathetic remuneration, coupled with the perennial price hikes of basic commodities, most of which are not only unjustifiable, but defy all common sense and logic, most workers in industry have been sacrificed on an altar of social, political and economic expediency. Indeed, this is a saddening state of affairs.
“I earn a gross salary of $175.80 a month and after deductions I remain with a net of about $100. From this I have to pay $60 for a room I rent in Luveve. In addition, I pay $15 for electricity. The amount I remain with is just not enough to buy food for my family, consisting of my wife and four children. So when I am not at work during week-ends, I do some ‘piece jobs’ in order to sustain my family,” said Jeremiah Mguni, a worker in industry, who resides in Gwabalanda.
It is the greatest sense of irony that while the generality of workers in industry are wallowing in abject poverty, some company executives are earning hefty salaries which, according to some reports, exceed $10 000 a month.
In addition, they receive a plethora of mouth-watering perks, which include top-of-the-range vehicles, flamboyant mansions in leafy suburbs and free education for their children,who attend some of the finest schools and universities abroad.
Most company executives in industry lead lavish and extravagant lifestyles.
They do their shopping abroad and spend their lucrative, company-sponsored annual holidays on the ski-slopes of Europe at the expense of ordinary shop-floor workers, who are literally scrounging around to put food on the table for their families.
Lest my real intentions are misconstrued, let me hasten to point out that I have no brief with company executives for being paid hefty emoluments.
However, I seek to advance the argument that company executives and ordinary shop-floor workers are equal and all deserve reasonable remuneration.
Note that I am not saying equal remuneration,but a day’s labour’s worth.
In any event, a company executive who earns $10 000 a month and an ordinary worker, who toils for a measly $200 eat the same food and buy from the same shops, where they are charged the same prices for items purchased. In all honesty, is that fair?
Simple economic morality dictates that all workers deserve decent wages and salaries so that they can afford decent shelter, mealie meal, beef, bread,sugar,rice, milk and an egg or a slice of bacon for breakfast.
These are basic requirements for every human being, and one should not be seen to be so poor as to fail to afford them.
Be that as it may, the shocking reality on the ground is that the majority of workers in industry are so economically marginalised that even a decent plate of sadza and stew is no longer affordable.
The dilemma faced by workers in industry has been compounded by the cost of living in the country, which is rising in leaps and bounds.
Rentals and transport costs have all gone up, while the prices of all basic commodities have shot into the stratosphere.
Apparently, what has remained static are the wages and salaries of workers in industry, who are bearing the brunt of hardship to the extent of subsidising their employers as their take-home pay cannot take them through to the next pay day.
What is pathetic about the whole scenario is the total absence of a voice representing workers in industry, despite the presence of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions(ZCTU), which was formed to advance the interests of the workers.
Indeed, it presents a painful paradox to note that the ZCTU has adopted the stance of a silent and passive observer while hordes of workers in industry are being ripped off, in broad daylight, by their employers.
This reminds me of the late Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, who once said, “Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted;the indifference of those who should have known better; and the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered that has made it possible for evil to prosper.”
If indeed the truth be told without fear or favour, there is hardly a shred of evidence that the ZCTU is still committed to serving the interests of workers.
Since the departure of its fire-brand, former secretary general, Morgan Tsvangirai, who, in the glow of his greatest triumph as a trade unionist, abandoned the labour movement and boarded the political train, the ZCTU has lurched from one crisis to another like a ship without rudder on a raging ocean.
As I see it, the ZCTU today faces a daunting task- that of proving its mettle and defending the reason for its existence.
The labour body should stop dabbling in politics and stick to its constitutional mandate – fighting for the betterment of the lives of its members,the workers.
As I conclude this piece, I must point out that if the current leadership of the ZCTU cannot stand the heat, or is unequal to the task of bailing workers in industry from the morass of searing poverty and destitution, then they should do the honourable thing and get out of the kitchen. It is as simple as that.
-Cuthbert Mavheko is a freelance journalist based in Bulawayo and has contributed articles and short stories to The Chronicle, Sunday News and various other publications since 1995. He has also been involved in trade unionism as a workers’ representative for several years. Contact details are: Mobile phone-0773 963 448; e-mail [email protected]
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