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tsvangirai

Opinion Cuthbert Mavheko
It is over a year now since President Mugabe and Zanu- PF registered a resounding victory over Morgan Tsvangirai and his Western-sponsored party in the 2013 harmonised elections. The new government that emerged from those watershed elections immediately launched a new economic blueprint-Zim-Asset, which is an offshoot of the revolutionary party’s 2013 election manifesto.

In this election manifesto, Zanu-PF said one of its fundamental goals is to create, in the next five years, a value of $7,3 billion from the indigenisation of1,138 companies across the 14 sectors of Zimbabwe’s economy. This, according to the revolutionary party, will create upwards of 2,265 million jobs across key sectors of the economy. Sadly though, today Zimbabwe is reeling from the crunching weight of massive retrenchments and company closures, which have seen hordes of workers tumble from gainful employment into the yawning void of joblessness.

According to the Retrenchment Board, between 100 and 400 workers are being retrenched every week. But the number could be much higher because it has been reported that as much as 30 percent of companies that are laying off workers are doing so secretly without informing the Retrenchment Board. A July 2013, National Social Security Authority (NSSA) Harare Regional Employer Closures and Registration Report for the period July 2011 to July 2013 shows that 711 companies in Harare alone closed, rendering 8,336 workers jobless. Many more companies have closed in Bulawayo, Mutare, Masvingo, Gweru, etc. Some of the companies that have retrenched workers include Dairibord, Spar Supermarkets, Olivine Industries, Bindura Nickel, PG Industries and Zimplats, to mention just a few.

Others like Cairns Foods, David Whitehead, Road Motor Services, Belmont Leather and National Blankets have all experienced judicial management.

As I personally see it, it is certainly not a coincidence that  these retrenchments and company closures  have increased at a time when the ruling Zanu-PF  government is working flat out to revive industry and  create much-needed employment. Against this background, it is clear to the observant that the MDC-T and its Western allies are behind all this. Being convinced that what will make or break the country are the twin evils of poverty and unemployment, the MDC-T and its sponsors are working round the clock to create conditions and circumstances that breed, sustain and perpetuate poverty and unemployment in the country.

The MDC-T has proved beyond a shadow of doubt, that it does not have the interests of the people at heart. Only one suffering from debilitating naivety can fail to see that the MDC-T is a common front of various political and economic interests, underpinned by the need and desire to preserve white capitalist privilege and its domination of the country’s economy and political processes. This truism was highlighted by President Mugabe in 2000, when he made an insightful remark, noting that: “The MDC should not be judged by its black trade union face, or its youthful student face; neither by its salaried black suburban junior professionals; never by its rough and violent high density lumpen elements. It is much deeper than these human superficies, for it is immovably and implacably mooted in the colonial yesteryear. It is a counter-revolutionary Trojan horse, contrived and nurtured by the very inimical forces and oppressors of yesteryear.”

This, no doubt, explains why the MDC invited and continues to support the imposition of Western economic sanctions on Zimbabwe. It should be stated, without fear of criticism or contradiction whatsoever, that it is these ruinous, illegal sanctions that are battering the national economy, forcing company closures and resulting in thousands of workers plummeting into the bottomless pit of joblessness. Due to the fact that the generality of retrenched workers are being given paltry retrenchment packages, the majority of them soon find themselves sweltering in the unbearable heat of grinding poverty as soon as their money runs out. An infinitesimal number of the retrenchees are being re-hired by their erstwhile employers as casual workers and continuing to work in that capacity for many months, even years, notwithstanding the fact that the Labour Act states, in no uncertain terms, that contract labour should only be reserved for temporary situations, where it is deemed unnecessary to hire full-time or permanent workers.

At the time of writing, a number of engineering and textile companies, here in Bulawayo, were in the process of retrenching hundreds of workers. “Our employers have notified us that they intend to retrench all permanent workers and re-employ some of them on contract basis. However, what pains us most is that each of the 400 workers targeted for retrenchment is being offered a paltry retrenchment package of two weeks’ pay for each year served. The average worker at our company earns $140 a month. What this means is that a worker who  has served the company for, say 5 years, will  receive a mere $350 in addition to a few terminal benefits like gratuity, for instance, which are also calculated using the same ‘two weeks pay for every year served’ principle,” said a workers’ representative who requested anonymity.

I have worked in industry since I retired from the Zimbabwe National Army in 1983 and I have been involved in trade unionism as a workers’ representative for donkey years. According to my own analysis and theoretical research of current developments in industry, I have concluded that the overall goal of employers in industry is to do away with all permanent, unionised workers and replace them with casual, non-unionised workers, who will labour for long hours for paltry remuneration. These workers will have no pensions, no medical aid, sick leave and vacation leave. To be brutally frank, under this set-up workers will be treated like beasts of burden. They will be overworked, underpaid and discarded like used condoms. They will also be victimised and threatened with dismissal if they join trade unions. Obviously, this will have adverse ramifications on workers’ rights to organise and join trade unions, thereby leaving them at the mercy of their avaricious, profit-incensed employers.