Zanu PF chefs exploiting farm workers
Saturday, 01 October 2011 18:55
BY JENNIFER DUBE
JAMAYA Muduvuri, a former Zanu PF senator, won the hearts of Chegutu’s
Twyford Farm workers when for some time he continued to pay them handsomely
after taking over the property from a white commercial farmer in 2009.
Some 28 lucky workers who survived a retrenchment exercise developed a soft
spot for Muduvuri as he paid them well and supplied them with foodstuffs.
“You would naturally feel lucky to survive the chop which cost some 170
employees their jobs, but that lasted for just a few months,” one employee
said last week.
“As it is right now, we are yet to get our wages for March, April and May.
He paid half wages to each employee in June, July and August. We are now
suffering like all those who lost their jobs because we have never handled
the US$55 minimum wage. He is paying US$45 when he says he has paid the full
wage and US$28 when paying half.”
Muduvuri took over the farm from Catherine Jouineau-Meredith, a French
citizen.
The farm, which was one of the most productive in the area, was supposed to
be protected by a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.
Trade unionists have indicated that there are many high-ranking Zanu PF
officials who have failed their inherited farm workers like Muduvuri, with
information that some have never paid any wages since the economy was
dollarised. “Some have never paid and others have only paid for an average
of two months since dollarisation,” Edward Dzeka of the General Agriculture
and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (Gapwuz) said.
Dzeka, who is Gapwuz organising secretary for Kadoma, Chegutu, Selous and
Mhondoro said most people who took over farms in the areas are Zanu PF
bigwigs and only a few were paying their employees as expected.
“Many are paying below the minimum wage of US$55 and lay off workers without
following due procedures,” he said.
“When we engage them on these issues, they say we are MDC activists.”
At one citrus farm owned by a senator, workers said they were earning US$40
per month and although they receive the wages every month, they usually come
on the 9th of the following month.
“She said she does not consider us as her workers but casual employees,
including some of us who used to be permanent employees at this farm,” one
worker said. “So she said, each of us earns US$2 per day. The problem here
is that the oranges are not doing well because of lack of chemicals and
water.”
At another farm owned by a Zanu PF politburo member, workers said the
minimum wage was pegged at US$32. “But the biggest problem here is the
acrimony between those who were sacked and those who are working as those
who are still employed sometimes harass those who lost their jobs, ordering
them out of the compound,” one employee said.
“A lot of people are surviving on piece jobs whereby they earn as little as
US$1 per day while others are paid for spying for the managers.”
While some farm owners were unreachable, Muduvuri disputed the claims saying
he was paying up as expected.
“I have 30 workers and the lowest paid earns US$85 while my drivers earn
US$100 and the farm managers as much as US$600,” he said.
“Come on the ground and ask any employee if they are not being paid and they
will tell you that I do not owe any of them any money. I give each employee
a bucket of mealie-meal and other basic foodstuffs every month and I also
assist them with funeral costs if need be.”
Labour and Social Services minister Paurina Mpariwa yesterday said she could
not comment on the matter as she was at the airport preparing to leave the
country.
Farm workers, whose livelihoods were destroyed by the land reform programme,
have often been victims for their alleged links to the Movement for
Democratic Change.
A report prepared by the Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe in 2003, said
prior to the land reform programme, an estimated 320 000 to
350 000 people were employed by about 4 500 commercial farmers.
Their dependants numbered between 1,8 million and two million, nearly 2% of
the country’s population.