MARTIN MAWAYA
HARARE-The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has painted a bleak picture for the workers as the economy continues on a negative trajectory with revelations of cartels unashamedly tightening their vice grip on the country’s resources.
The ZCTU says the few elite that replaced the Rhodesians have captured the state and are plundering the nation’s resources using capitalistic laws which exclusively shut out the employees from the feeding trough.
In a statement to mark 43 years of Zimbabwe’s Independence, ZCTU secretary general Japhet Moyo said the majority of workers have nothing to celebrate as the standard of living continue deteriorating to unprecedented levels in the country.
“For the majority of workers and peasants, the 43 years of independence have nothing much to write home about.
“The standard of living for an ordinary Zimbabwean has deteriorated in the past 43 years compared to the pre-independence period.
“Working conditions which had greatly improved in the early years of independence have harshly deteriorated. Workers are no longer protected by the law as was in the early 1980’s.
“The laws of the land are not being fully upheld to protect workers and citizens. Our working environment has gradually deteriorated from independence. Workers in both the formal and informal sectors are suffering from repressive and capitalistic laws that deter them from fully exercising their rights.
“As we commemorate this important day the values and principles of our independence have been thrown out of the window and are now under threat than before, not from colonialists, but from counter revolutionary gangs and cartels plundering the country’s resources without remorse.
“The hopes and aspirations that the country envisioned in 1980 have not been met and particularly for workers, we are no longer enjoying the Unity, Freedom and Work. We mark this day on a sad note as a result of the debilitating economic malaise that has pauperised the working class,” said Moyo.
Moyo added that workers are now in the modern day slavery caused by their own kith and kin that now control the means of production and their foreign investor friends.
He said the older generation reminisces with nostalgia and fondness of “the good old working days under colonialism” where wages had value to develop them and their families from their earnings unlike today.
The labour board secretary pointed out that “local workers under foreign investors particularly the Chinese are no better than the slaves of between 1700 and 1850,” as the “government is failing to protect its own citizens from exploitation while stifling the democratic space for trade unions and CSOs”.
He said over the past few years, workers have been subjected to harsh capitalistic conditions, where wages and salaries have been eroded; with haphazard monetary policy changes putting them in worse conditions as they can do little or no planning at all.
Moyo added that Zimbabwe only gained political independence while “all other freedoms and liberties such as economic freedom, the right to assembly and associate remain a mirage” as “the majority of the citizens are still under the shackles of socioeconomic oppression” where basic freedoms and rights are not respected.
He said recently the nation was gripped with shocking revelations from the Gold Mafia documentary expose by an international news agency detailing how individuals have been plundering the country’s gold with the blessings of the highest offices.
On the forthcoming elections, the labour union urged authorities to create an enabling environment for peaceful, free and fair polls saying the nation cannot afford another flawed electoral outcome.
“We call upon the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, political players and other state institutions to act within the confines of the law to the best interests of the people of Zimbabwe.
Repressive laws like the MOPA and FIA are still within our midst and civil liberties for most Zimbabweans remain under lock and key. While we call on the government to play its part the general citizenry must extricate itself from corruption, violence, fear, thuggery, deprivation, segregation, inequalities and repression by exercising their right to vote,” he said.
