Government wants farmers to pay redundancy to evicted workers

A storm is brewing in Zimbabwe over a government ruling to force commercial farmers to pay retrenchment packages to farm workers left jobless by the chaotic land reform programme, the 'Daily News' reported on Wednesday. The farmers are reportedly arguing that the government should pay the workers since it is seizing the farms. Officials from the ministry of public service, labour and social welfare presented the proposal at a meeting with the mainly white Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) and officials from farm workers’ organisations.

A document presented at the meeting suggested the money for the packages would be deducted from the compensation paid to farmers whose farms would have been acquired. It is understood the proposal was met with resistance and suspicion.
Sources said there was suspicion the government was trying to woo donor funds through a seemingly humanitarian programme.
The obligation to pay the workers’ packages would substantially reduce compensation for the farmers. Clemence Sungai, general secretary of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe, confirmed yesterday his union attended the meeting.

"The workers deserve to be paid," said Sungai. "The question of who pays is not our concern, but the workers should be compensated, just like the farmers." But many farm workers have already been evicted, some of them violently, from the farms by the invaders. If the statutory instrument was implemented, they might not benefit from the proposed packages as they may not be traced. The land acquisition programme has threatened the jobs of about 450,000 workers on commercial farms. Their families and relatives are also affected.