Red flags rising: Zimbabwe’s workers spiral into despair amid labor crisis

ANESU MASAMVU

As Zimbabwe prepares to commemorate Workers’ Day, red flags are flying over the country’s collapsing labor sector.

Former Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Peter Mutasa has issued a chilling warning, worsening economic conditions have pushed many workers into deep psychological distress—with some even contemplating suicide.

“Daily, we are receiving people who have financial strain, who are financially distressed, and people who are even suicidal, workers who are even suicidal,” Mutasa told Business Times. “We’ve even made arrangements with some civil society that provide mental health and psychological help, but it doesn’t help much because at the end of the day, the rentals have to be paid. At the end of the day, school fees have to be paid, and food has to be bought.”

At the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), the crisis is playing out in full view. Lecturers there are protesting monthly salaries of just US$230—a figure they describe as a “clear heist robbery” of their expected remuneration. They are demanding a return to pre-October 2018 levels of US$2,500 per month for junior lecturers. Their right to strike was only granted after a High Court ruling by Justice Benjamin Chikowore, following police suppression of earlier efforts.

Mutasa said this dispute is one of many boiling over as Zimbabwe’s labor conditions deteriorate.

“So, the labor movement has been devalued seriously. I think we have been at our worst levels since 1980. And May Day must be a time for serious reflections and strategizing to have a fight back to reclaim the lost labor rights, like meaningful minimum wages and also progressive labor laws,” he said. “The workers all over, whether you’re in domestic services, whether you are in private security, teachers, nurses, doctor, everyone is lost in terms of their pensions. Everyone is lost in terms of the values of their wages. The majority of the people are working poor.”

With wages falling far below the poverty datum line, Mutasa says the psychological toll is evident across the workforce.

“The labor movement is reflecting exactly what is happening at the national level. People are dejected, and people are hopeless. A majority of the working class is just suffering from mental disorders,” he said. “You go to work daily, but you earn something that is not even sufficient to pay for your rentals and your transport to work. You still have to pay your school fees. You still have to feed your families.”

He said many workers have resorted to juggling multiple jobs just to survive.

“Many workers are moonlighting, having many other income-generating projects outside the work setting. So you don’t even have time to rest. There’s no work-life balance. So, in terms of morale, the working class in this country is very, very dejected,” he added.

Efforts to mobilize workers around trade union causes are faltering under the weight of economic and emotional strain.

“People are depressed, and many people are losing hope. So what it means is that people may not easily come out to participate in trade union work or in trade union calls for mass aid,” Mutasa said. “But because this dejection or depression is building up, people need to be organized. But spirits are dampened. People are crying every day. You look at a worker failing to pay rentals and being checked out from their lodgings.”

Zimbabwe has been hemorrhaging skilled labor in recent years, especially in the healthcare sector. Mutasa warns that the ongoing brain drain is symptomatic of a system on the verge of collapse.

“So it is a dangerous situation that we are seeing. That is why we are facing massive brain drain. Some people are giving up and going out,” he said. “It’s funny that in South Africa, they are saying most medical care workers are migrating to Europe and Canada, but Zimbabwean workers are craving to go to South Africa. Zimbabwean workers are craving to go to Botswana. That’s how bad our situation is. The country is losing out. The lecturers have done well. They’ve ignited the spirit of fighting back for the working class.”

As a path forward, Mutasa called for collective resistance and the restoration of dignity in labor.

“In an environment that engenders social justice, a country cannot develop when the workforce, all of them, are living under the poverty bottom line,” he said. “We need workers to be rewarded for their toil and sweat. And that is the only way to get us out of this. But the government cannot do that. They can’t do that on their own. The people must gang up and force the government to conform.’