Currently, farm labourers are paid below US$50 and GAPWUZ is demanding that the salaries be reviewed up to US$100 a month. Speaking to ***The Zimbabwean last week, GAPWUZ spokesperson, Tapiwa Zivira, said that the wages of farm labourers were so meagre that the families could barely survive for a week. Zivira said that the situation for farm laborers had been compounded by the presence of war veterans who failed to provide for the basic needs of the farm labourers.
Engaging the farm organizations has in the past proven to be useless as the farmers have either refused to attend the negotiations for salary reviews or simply ignored the decisions made at the negotiations. “Newly resettled farmers have a culture of impunity. Since they are war veterans, nothing can be done to them and this has made life especially difficult for farm workers who cannot engage in strikes because of fear of the repercussions,” said Zivira. GAPWUZ estimates that there are just under 100 000 farm labourers stationed at farms in the country and that the number might have declined due to the 2008 political unrest and uncertainty that affected most parts of the country.
“We are still to ascertain the number of people on the farms but we are sure that the numbers are falling due to violence that was targeted at farm labourers,” said Zivira. Life for the former farm labourers have been worsened by the fact that most of them are regarded remnants of the disposed white farmers whose land was invaded by war veterans and Zanu (PF) youths claiming to be war veterans.
Post published in: News