'Rhodesian garden boys were better than Zim workers of today'

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says the standard of living for the majority of workers in the country has fallen below that of people who worked as "garden boys" and housemaids for the white people during the colonial era.

ZCTU president George Nkiwane said the working conditions for Zimbabwean workers had continued to deteriorate and called for people to demand action from the government.

He said this last week in Bulawayo during a ZCTU labour forum.

"Long back we used to work for the whites as garden boys or house girls but we could live better lives. A garden boy could afford to send his children to boarding school. They got five pounds per month salary but could afford to send his or her children to school. So what has happened now? Is this the Zimbabwe that we want? Why are we where we don't want to be? Let's demand results from the government," said Nkiwane.

He called on the people to express their anger to the responsible authorities telling them that they are tired of the current situation.

"We are tired of being told that the economy has improved when companies are closing down and people are losing jobs every day.

As workers, we are duty bound to take all Zimbabweans out of the dungeon of poverty. We have to demand for a government that is not afraid of its people. We don't want a situation where when we try to gather and demonstrate, we see the police and the CIO all over us," said the ZCTU official.

Nkiwane said factionalism in both the country's main political parties namely Zanu PF and MDC was a stumbling block to development.

"We see now there is factionalism in the Zanu PF party and it has effects on the society to the extent that members of the party do not trust each other. If there is no support for one another within the political parties, what happens is that mistrust cripples into our society. The end result is that we don't focus on core issues but on trivial issues. It is something that we have to deal with as a country," said Nkiwane.

He urged people to tolerate each other's views regardless of their political or other differences.

"As ZCTU we have been calling on people to tolerate each other's views. The issue about who supports who is not important. What is important is to discuss what we agreed for the development of the country. As Zimbabweans what we want is good living. We don't eat politics," said Nkiwane.

ZCTU vice-chairman Ambrose Sibindi also called on the people to mobilise themselves and take to the streets to demand better standards of living.

"We would have loved to have a day where we would freely demonstrate and show our grievances. People are now sick and tired and they want action," said Sibindi.

The majority of workers in the country are earning less than the poverty datum line currently pegged at just above US$500.
The plight for workers in the country has been worsened by the massive de-industrialisation in cities.

The situation is worse in Bulawayo, which used to be the country's hub of manufacturing industry. Owing to prevailing economic constraints most of the companies have closed.

Big companies such as the National Blankets, ZECO and clothing companies such as Archer, Security Mills and Merlin have closed down or relocated leaving more than 25 000 workers jobless.

According to the Employers' Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ) an average of 350 workers are losing jobs every month.