Workers rights are Human Rights

The United Nations organization recognizes that people have a “human right to work, or engage in productive employment, and may not be prevented from doing so”. This concept enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in international human rights law. According to Article 23.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment”.

Everyone must have access to work.  Article 22 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, “for work to be a source of livelihood, everyone must have access to work and it must provide a just and favorable remuneration ensuring the worker and their family an existence worthy of human dignity.

Work satisfies two significant social functions that is; [1] it is a source to livelihood. Work enables workers to obtain remuneration that will enable them and their families to meet their basic needs, such as food, shelter, paying bills, transport, education etc. and [2] it provides a deep sense of self-worth, dignity, desires and aspirations in life. A job is part of our personality and a means to self-actualization.

Workers’ rights are employment entitlements protected by law and claimable by workers. According to the Constitution of Zimbabwe (2013)’s chapter 4 declaration of right, section 65.1 “Every person has the right to fair and safe labour practices and standards and to be paid a fair and reasonable wage”.  Workers’ rights are also protected by law. According to Chapter 28:01 of the Labour Act (2005), section 6, all employers are required to pay their employees a fair wage, commensurate with their occupation and to ensure that workers are working  under safe working conditions.

Following on from legal requirements and principles stated above, the National Railways of Zimbabwe(NRZ) continues to violate workers’ rights with impunity. This must stop. The NRZ management must be condemned by all fair minded people for unfair and life endangering labour practices. They must be brought before the courts to account for their willful violation of international and Zimbabwean laws. There is a shameful and willful disregard of employees’ occupational safety and health at NRZ. Working practices are, in a lot of cases, also contrary to the provisions contained in the “Train Working regulations (TWR)”, Factories and Works Act (20 of 1948) and the National Social Security Authority (Accident Prevention and Workers Compensation Scheme) Notice No. 68 of 1990, as amended.

NRZ workers are underpaid, do not receive their salaries on time and are at times forced to work longer hours, under unsafe working conditions. Every year there are reports of workers dying on duty and no effort has been taken to address these corporate manslaughter cases.
As an example, on Friday 8 December 2017 one of my former workmates Benson Makotore was trapped between two wagons at Lukosi Siding near Hwange and died on the spot. According to a narration given anonymously by one of the Train man who was at work that day, he said “we were detaching a wagon on the storage loop, as we were pulling out of the storage loop the wagon started rolling towards the load which was left on the crossing loop. As Makotore was applying brakes he ended up being trapped as the wagon side swiped with the ones on the crossing loop whilst he was still hanging. He had noticed a wagon with binding brakes and had decided to detach it at Pongoro storage loop. He cut off and advised the driver to ease off. Unfortunately the wagon released the brakes. Both handbrakes were not effective.  We pushed the wagon in the storage loop and cut off then advised driver to ease off. Meanwhile the other portion of the load was stationery in the crossing loop. The wagon started rolling towards TJ, which is when it went past the clearance indicator on the storage loop and collided with one wagon part of his load that was stationery in the loop.”
It is sad that our government is not putting in place strict measures on wholly state owned enterprises, such as the NRZ, to ensure that management is fully adhering to safe working practices and regulations. Hundreds of lives are lost every year at NRZ and most of these cases go unreported. The dilapidated rail infrastructure was condemned by experts and employees many years ago and is no longer fit for purpose. Signals ceased to be operational more than ten years ago. The NRZ is currently using the antiquated paper order system.

Staff are regularly victimized and often dismissed or made to resign for raising issues to do with occupational safety and health.  TWR 1 states that “SAFETY TAKES PRECEDENCE” yet NRZ management continues to force workers to work in in unsafe spaces with inadequate personal protective equipment, such as safety clothing. An example is that of one security detail called Mahumucha.  He is currently admitted in a Bulawayo hospital after falling off a wagon at Mpopoma siding.  The sad part is that, despite Mahumucha having been injured at work, the NRZ has not contributed anything so far to his medical expenses. He is struggling to pay for his medical care and treatments. Considering that NRZ is a wholly state owned enterprise, it is expected that they would be more enlightened about occupational safety and health regulations and would be in the forefront of practicing safety at work. Unfortunately, this has never been the case in the last 8 years.

Another example of management’s insensitivities to workers’ plight and willful violation of the Labour Act occurred on 31 July 2015. On this day, all labour leaders had their contracts of employment terminated. They cited the government’s proclamations and support of the infamous “Nyamande and Another V Zuva petroleum Pvt Ltd, 2015” judgement. The NRZ labour leaders were summarily dismissed for taking their employer to the labour court after they had gone for nearly eleven months with no salaries. In 2016 workers who were actively participated in the month long strike were also dismissed.

Incidences of unfair labour practices are pandemic across many sectors of the economy in Zimbabwe, mainly because of the high rate of unemployment.  There is an urgent need for the government, and the ministry of labour in particular to intervene and ensure that workers’ rights are protected and that occupational health and safety is prioritized. Trade unions must also be in the forefront of advocating for workers’ rights and safe working practices, as required by law.
Every life matters. No worker should die on duty. An injury to one is an injury to all.

Linda Tsungirirai Masarira
Human Rights Defender, Aspiring MP Harare Central, Political Activist and Founder and National Coordinator of Zimbabwe Women in Politics Alliance

Be an active citizen: know your rights

Today is International Human Rights Day. Zimbabwe is on record for being one of the countries that violates human rights to settle political scores. Very little is done to educate Zimbabwean citizens on Human Rights with some ignorantly professing that Human Rights is a western concept.

Human rights are claims that every human being is entitled to in order to live a dignified life. In Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it states that, "ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE BORN FREE AND EQUAL IN DIGNITY AND RIGHTS."

Every Zimbabwean has the right to a dignified life, should have equal access to resources, opportunities and services essential for an adequate standard of living. It's rather unfortunate that most in Zimbabwe, a large percentage of the population lives in poverty and social deprivation which has led to many people normalizing the abnormal and accepting violation of rights as a way of life.

Economic, Social and cultural rights are human rights and should ensure pro-poor, inclusive and sustainable development. These rights were not considered at all in the preparation of the 2019 budget which was presented on Friday. The budget was more of a market economy with very little connotations to social justice.

The very few Zimbabweans still employed deserve a living wage and decent working conditions. In the budget statement it was stated that,  technically insolvent parastatals will be closed. What happens when the parastatals are closed as there was no budget presented for their packages. Two years down the line Zuva judgement victims are still wrong for their terminal benefits and retirement packages with most of them now living in abject poverty. Former workers of the same parastatals who had their contract of employment terminated by the infamous zuva judgement are struggling to make ends meet. There are no jobs and those who had resorted to vending to sustain their livelihoods are being chased off the streets which has made life generally unbearable and miserable for the unemployed.

The African Charter on Human and People's Rights safeguards the following rights;

1. Right to work (article 15)
2. Right to health (Article 16)
3. Right to Education (Article 17)

Zimbabwe signed this charter on 28 February 1986 and ratified it on 30 August 1986.

The right to health care is essential for one to fully enjoy their right to health. Healthcare must be accessible, available, acceptable and of good quality. Zimbabwe has failed to provide adequate healthcare for the past twenty years in public hospitals which is a gross violation of human rights and their obligation in relation to Article 1 of the African Charter which requires State parties to "recognize" the rights, duties and freedoms enshrined in the charter.

Hundreds die prematurely in our government hospitals due to shortage of critical drugs, shortage of blood, malfunctioning machinery and poor Healthcare. It is our responsibility as active citizens to continue demanding accountability until every Zimbabwean enjoys the right to quality healthcare.

The right to education is a Human Rights on its own. It is a guarantee of being entitled to education that us accessible, affordable and available to everyone. The right to education as enshrined in section 75 of the constitution of Zimbabwe is a fundamental human right necessary for every person to know and be able to demand and assert other human rights. Section 75 further states that in clause 1(a) every citizen and permanent resident of Zimbabwe has a right to a basic state funded education, including adult basic education...

Government must pay for basic education and efforts should be made to ensure that all the children gallivanting in the streets are afforded the opportunity to go to school. All children who have been sent away from school should go back to school and those who are engaged in child prostitution and drug abuse should be rehabilitated and taken back to school.

These provisions in the constitution show some of the commitments made by government when if accepted these uman rights instruments such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights.

In conclusion, our right to health is greatly compromised by the dirty, filthy and condemned water that comes out our taps which is a violation of our right to safe, clean and potable water as enshrined in section 77 of the constitution of Zimbabwe. Water is very important for a healthy life. No one can exercise other rights if they do not have right to water. Every Zimbabwean must access clean and safe drinking water and sanitation.

The United Nations also passed a resolution in 2010 recognizing that water and sanitation is a Human right. The government of Zimbabwe has an obligation to provide clean, safe and portable water to every Zimbabwean and must respect the right to water, protect the right to water and the central government and local authorities have a duty to provide clean and portable water in Zimbabwe. Our duty as Zimbabweans is to demand basic human rights to be adhered to. First things first the right to water.

Let us be active citizens and demand our fundamental human rights to be respected and protected.