By Norm Dixon
Zimbabwe's impoverished farm workers have won a hefty wage increase as a result of their first organised national strike against the country's 4000 wealthy, predominantly white, commercial farmers. Farm workers, who walked out at the end of September, were demanding wage increases of 135%, about US$70 a month.
Their union, the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union, on October 15 accepted a pay increase of 40% ordered by Zimbabwe's arbitration system. Leave days were increased from 12 working days to 15. The result was double that offered by the commercial farmers' organisation.
During the strike, thousands of singing, chanting workers blocked highways and invaded farms. There were reports of some farms being looted and buildings destroyed. White farmers formed vigilante squads.
Union leaders and the government unsuccessfully tried to convince workers to return to work while arbitration took place. Angry workers are reported to have chased union officials away from a tea plantation when they suggested a return to work.
There are around 350,000 farm workers in Zimbabwe, making them the largest single group of workers. They earn less than $30 a month and live in appalling conditions on the commercial farms which produce most of the country's cash crops (tobacco, coffee, tea and corn). Their meagre incomes support 2 million Zimbabweans.
The government of Robert Mugabe has been under intense pressure recently from veterans of the liberation war and the landless poor to begin the long-promised redistribution of land. The farm workers' strike added to that pressure.
On October 15, Mugabe announced that the government would seize land from rich farmers "this year ... whether the constitution allows it or not".
Speaking at a rally in Mashonaland, Mugabe said that Zimbabwe could not afford to compensate rich farmers for their land, as demanded by the British government. "If you want your children compensated, give us the money and we will pass it on the them", Mugabe declared.
The chairperson of the National Land Acquisition Committee, Joseph Msika, has said that 5 million hectares have been targeted for acquisition. Under-utilised and derelict land, and farms owned by absentee landlords, would be identified for redistribution.
Many Zimbabweans remain sceptical about these promises, which have become rituals in Zimbabwe. Meanwhile rich white farmers get richer and only members of the black elite close to Mugabe join the ranks of the commercial farmers.