Marondera — Over 200 farm workers at Mitchell and Mitchell Estate – an exporter of horticultural produce – have been served with retrenchment letters.
The company’s directors have reportedly cited uncertainty of ongoing viability of the enterprise following threats by President Robert Mugabe to seize all farms in Mashonaland East owned by white farmers.
Mugabe’scontroversial farm grabs, which started back in 2000, are blamed for stoking an economic crisis his government fails to tame, with oppostion estimates putting formal unemployment at more than 90 percent.
It recently emerged that the beneficiaries of his land reforms are also paying workers what have been described as ‘slave wages’ of $75 per month.
And while Mugabe’s rhetoric is putting at risk the jobs of the poor, the ministers are scrambling to appoint members president’s family to cushy jobs in a state entities.
Mugabe daughter was recently appointed board member of two State-related entities while her husband was made boss at the crippled national airline – Air Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, workers at the Marondera estate and its sister farm, Churchill, also located in the town, confirmed Monday that they were served with retrenchment letters last week, but were resisting the move.
“At least 200 workers at Mitchell and Mitchell and Churchill farms received letters last week notifying them that the company intended to retrench them due to low business. The letters were signed by the company’s director and owner, Jane Mitchell,” one of the affected workers said.
“However, when we queried this, we were told by the farm directors that the real reason was that the company was facing uncertainty due to statements made by the President (Mugabe) recently that he would take over all the remaining farms owned by white farmers in Marondera.”
He said 89 workers and 21 middle managers at Mitchell and Mitchell had received the retrenchment letters and a similar number had also been served with notices at Churchill farm.
“We are disputing the company’s claims that the farms are facing operational challenges as we have just increased farm production and the produce that is being exported especially crops such as peas and broccoli,” he said.
In the retrenchment letters, the company said the process would start of 7 June and the workers would receive three months salaries and a month’s salary for each year served.
At its peak before the start of the land reform programme in 2000, Mitchell and Mitchell, used to be a major employer in Marondera.
Earlier this month, Mugabe, while addressing thousands of Zanu PF supporters at Rudhaka Stadium, threatened to take all the remaining farms owned by white farmers in the province and redistribute them to landless youths.
