Tsvangirai laments poor status of workers, says change the government

The opposition leader said Zimbabweans must reflect on what ZANU-PF had promised and failed to deliver as it was likely to offer them other empty promises next year.

“We must reflect and spare a thought for the sons and daughters loafing around our own homes; the unemployed university graduates who cannot find a job in the country of their birth and are looking at the slightest opportunity to leave the country,” he said.

“This is the sad national predicament we must think about this May Day, the educated youth who are idle mainly because in 2013, President Mugabe and ZANU-PF lied that they would create two million jobs to ameliorate their plight but have dismally failed to come good on that promise.

“As we face a watershed election in 2018, we must budget that these hypocrites will bring to us a fresh bouquet of high-sounding promises they will forget about soon after polling day!”

Full statement:

Monday, 01 May 2017

President Morgan Tsvangirai's Workers' Day message to the people of Zimbabwe

Today, I join the world and the nation in commemorating this great day dedicated to celebrating the working community even though in our country, sadly, formal work has become a rarity.

On this special day, I salute the few Zimbabweans that still remain in formal work in whatever little is still left of our once-thriving industry. I also want to make special mention of our hard working civil servants who continue to slug it out without recognition and due payment from this uncaring government. The nation knows that had it not been for the election next year, even the staggered bonuses that are due to be paid out to civil servants starting this month would not have seen the light of day.

 I spent many years of my adult life representing the country’s formal workers at national level and I know the huge sacrifices that those working formally and informally make every day to look after their families and keep what is left of our economy ticking.

However, the nature and the definition of the worker in our beloved country has drastically changed, thanks to our government!

It is in that new but sad context that today, I extend a special salute to the new workers; the country’s teeming  informal traders who continue to make our economy tick under very hostile conditions.

To the millions of vendors now eking out an honest living on the pavements of our streets, I salute you; to the men and women in the villages working hard to feed your families, you are my heroes; to the artisanal miners slugging it out beneath our soils and the farmers those tilling the land, we revere you; to all those of my countrymen and women in the Diaspora working hard to send a dime to the families back home; this is your day!

Yes, all of you are workers who deserve your due recognition on this your special day.

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