LABOUR-ZIMBABWE: Workers Cannot Take It Any More

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Chris Anold Msipa

HARARE, Nov 19 2003 (IPS) - Zimbabwe’s economy is headed for deeper crises as labour leaders and civil society groups clashed with government Tuesday over rising costs of living.

At least 50 activists, including the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) leader, Lovemore Matombo, were arrested in the capital, Harare, Tuesday. Reform activists Brian Raftopoulos and Lovemore Madhuku were also picked up by police as they left a meeting in a Harare hotel, a ZCTU spokesperson said.

Witnesses said running battles were also fought with the dreaded riot police in the second city, Bulawayo.

Zimbabwe’s runaway inflation of over 500 percent, which is at the centre of the strike, has rendered the local currency worthless. Once a success story in Africa, Zimbabwe is now suffering from shortages of banknotes, fuel and foreign currency.

Political commentators say the government of President Robert Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, is likely to face resistance in the coming months, because the masses cannot take it anymore.

“What we are seeing now is a country without a central administration, where things simply happen like the current price increases,” said an academic with the University of Zimbabwe, who refused to be named.

He said Tuesday’s confrontation with the government would not solve the problems besieging the Southern African nation since the invasion of white-owned farms three years ago.

The government cannot, he said, restore sanity in the economy because it has lost control, which now rests with individuals. The rule of supply and demand will see things stabilise as consumers and traders come to a compromise, he added.

Elliot Kadunge, a resident of Glenview, a low-income suburb of Harare, said commonsense should prevail among the politicians for life to return to normal in Zimbabwe.

“Workers in most urban areas have for the past three years endured steep increases in prices. The government seems not to care at all, when it spends billions of Zimbabwe dollars on posh vehicles for its senior personnel,” he said.

President Mugabe should, said Kadunge, stop “politicking” and address the problems facing Zimbabwe, without pointing fingers at Britain and the opposition, when he fails to deliver. “If the difficulties are due to sanctions (imposed by the European Union and the United States), Mugabe should show his ability as a leader. Was he just able to rule well with the support of the former colonial masters?” he wondered.

“The current economic hardships have left all recreational places like drinking places deserted. Prices of everything have gone wild. So, who is in control? You can’t blame the people if they protest,” said Kadunge.

Before Tuesday’s demonstration, one weekly newspaper quoted ZCTU Secretary-General Wellington Chibhebhe as warning: “The struggle is now into the fourth gear, and the vehicle has five gears. The government may crush the demonstration, but the spirit is very high.”

The protests were scheduled to begin in Harare, with a march to the ministry of finance to hand over a petition proposing tax relief measures to minister Herbert Murerwa, ahead of his 2004 budget announcement Thursday. Another procession to government offices was expected in Bulawayo.

The government threatened unspecified action against the demonstrations, which, it warned, were illegal under the Public Order and Security Act. The legislation, derived from the colonial ‘Law and Order Maintenance Act’, was introduced to suppress black uprising against the minority white rule before independence.

State media say police chief Augustine Chihuri plans to present before parliament a bill that will, if it becomes law, require criminal courts to refuse bail to suspects arrested for offences likely to cause public unrest until they have been tried.

Lawyers have condemned the plan as further suppression of human rights, which, after all, made the Commonwealth to suspend Zimbabwe.

The commonwealth is an organisation of about 53 independent states which were formerly parts of the British Empire, established to encourage trade and friendly relations among its members.

Last week some striking doctors, protesting a court order to return to work, resigned. The police arrested their leaders, who were later freed.

Apart from the 12 doctors, who have resigned, there are reports of massive exodus of staff from the public service, with some ministries operating on skeletal staff.

Civil servants complain of the poorest pay in Southern Africa, coupled with one of the highest taxation scales in the world. Yet members of parliament, the president, ministers and senior officials enjoy tax-free salaries and benefits.

Medical doctors earn between 64 and 90 U.S. dollars per month, compared with 6,000 U.S. dollars earned by their expatriate Cuban colleagues.

A senior employee of Air Zimbabwe says the national airliner is also likely to plunge into a predicament as workers are planning to down tools anytime soon due to poor salaries and working conditions.

“It’s not long before the airliner is in trouble. We can’t continue to toil for peanuts while other people enjoy the fruits of our work. Our boss recently received an international award for civil aviation excellence. And he had the guts to say that ‘I thank my staff for this’ when he doesn’t even care,” said the employee, who requested anonymity.

Martha Mudziki, a Harare businesswoman, urged the government not to prevent people from demonstrating, so it can listen to their problems and find solutions. She says she sees the country as being in need of divine power if it is to come out of its dilemma.

“Our problem dates back to the time of independence, when we got too excited and forgot that it was God who led us through the war of liberation. We, instead, turned to our ancestral spirits, brewed beer and celebrated, forgetting our forefathers are not greater than God who created them. It’s time to turn to Him now,” she said.

The delayed dialogue between the ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to restore the rule of law in Zimbabwe is also denting the image of the sub-region, internationally.