On the eve of parliamentary elections, President Robert Mugabe’s government has increased the minimum wage for domestic servants tenfold.
A labour union official said the sudden increase will lead to mass unemployment and illicit child labour. The main opposition party called it an attempt to drive a wedge between urban employers, thought to support the opposition, and their employees.
The new labour regulations announced on Wednesday raised the basic wage for a gardener, the lowest grade, from Z$83 000 to Z$800 000 (R84 to R819) a month. Servants will also receive Z$87 000 (R88) monthly for accommodation, transport and other allowances, where these are not provided free by employers.
The regulations raise the minimum wage for house servants from Z$109 000 to Z$900 000 (R111 to R921). The increases are backdated to March 1.
Official spokespersons have not commented on the reasons or timing behind the announcement, which was made in a government gazette.
The previous rates were promulgated in June 2004.
Mlamleli Sibanda, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, described the announcement as ”two steps forward, one step backward” for the country’s estimated 250 000 domestic workers, now mostly employed by black households.
He predicted that with many middle-class employers already struggling to survive financially, it will lead to mass redundancies and increased illicit employment of children from rural areas.
Tendai Biti, secretary of finance for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said: ”They want to drive a wedge between urban employers and employees who are presumed to be MDC.”
He noted no similar increase has been announced for farm workers, 500 000 of whom lost regular employment when 5 000 white-owned farms were seized under Mugabe’s ”fast-track land reform”.
Falling living standards have been a major issue in Zimbabwe’s election campaign. Urban constituencies, where the majority of servants are employed, voted overwhelmingly for Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC in June 2000 and March 2002 parliamentary and presidential elections.
The MDC claims a recent upsurge in open support in rural areas formerly loyal to Zanu-PF, despite threats to deny them access to food.
On Thursday, voters will choose 120 members of Zimbabwe’s 150-seat Parliament. The president appoints the remaining 30 seats.
Sibanda said the 20 000-member Domestic Workers’ Union, part of the union alliance, had not been consulted about the increase, signed into law on March 25.
A lawyer speaking on condition of anonymity said that with two million people unemployed in Zimbabwe and widespread hunger in rural areas, many middle-class black families and their servants are already ignoring official employment conditions. — Sapa-AP