Zambezia (2002), XXIX (i)."THE CURSE OF OLD AGE": ELDERLY WORKERS ONZIMBABWE'S LARGE SCALE COMMERCIAL FARMS,WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO "FOREIGN" FARMLABOURERS UP TO 2000JOYCE M. CHADYA AND PETER MAYAVOHistory and Development Studies, Midlands State UniversityAbstractStudies on farm labour in Zimbabwe have often tended to neglect the plightof disadvantaged sections of this workforce. This article seeks to ftll thisvoid in mainstream labour studies. It focuses on the "use" and abuse ofelderly workers on large-scale commercial farms in Zimbabwe. Elderlyworkers have existed either as a recognized group of "special" workers or"invisibly" as part of ordinary workers. The article examines the nature andextent of exploitation and discrimination of elderly workers, particularlytheir confinement to the so-called "light" tasks. The central issue ofcomfortable retirement is also put under the spotlight. Aspects of pensionand other terminal benefits are discussed in the light of general provision forold-age. The article grapples with the government's land reform programmeand its adverse effects on farm workers who lack ethnic and nationalityrights to own land. For many "foreign" workers, prospects of returning tocountries of origin have become more remote by the years due to severalfactors, and, yet, women, children and the elderly were probably the worstaffected by farm "invasions" that characterised the government's controversial"fast-track" land redistribution exercise since early 2000.BACKGROUNDTo date, a number of studies have been done on Zimbabwean agriculturallabour in general.1 However, the fate of elderly workers in this industryhas remained a grey area. The history of agricultural labour dates back tothe inception of colonial rule. Initially, mining was of course the backboneof the economy with agriculture being a secondary economic activityuntil the end of the first decade of the twentieth century. BeforeFor more information, see D. G. Clarke (1977) Agricultural and Plantation Workers inRhodesia (Gwelo. Mambo Press); B. Paton (1995,) Labour Export Policy in the Developmentof Southern Africa (Harare, University of Zimbabwe Publications); R. Locwenson (1992)Modern Plantation Agriculture (London, Zed Books); D. Amanor Wilks (1995,) In Search ofHope for Zimbabwe's Farm Workers (London, Dateline Southern Africa).12J. M. CHADYA AND P. MAYAVO 13commercial agriculture took off, African farmers supplied mining centresand other European settlements with foodstuffs.Indigenous people were generally reluctant to enter wage labour.This was partly a result of the peasant prosperity mentioned above, aswell as lack of incentive in the mining and agricultural sectors wherewages were very low and working conditions generally poor. Under thecircumstances, settler farmers and mining companies were forced, in ca-hoots with the state, to explore possibilities of acquiring cheap labourfurther afield. The main recruiting grounds were the then Nyasaland(Malawi), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Mozambique, which were toprovide a substantial number of workers for these two industries. Itshould, however, be noted that importation of extra-territorial labourgoes as far back as the first decade of the twentieth century when farmersand mine owners jointly established a collective recruitment agency inthe form of the Rhodesia Native Labour Bureau (1903-1933).The Rhodesia Native Labour Bureau (RNLB) recruited labour fromboth within and outside the country. According to C. van Onselen, between1906 and 1911 the RNLB supplied an average of 13 000 labourers toRhodesian employers annually.2 The Southern Rhodesian governmentalso concluded labour agreements with the northern territories ofMozambique, Zambia and Malawi in order to tap more labour for SouthernRhodesian employers. These agreements include the Tete Agreement(1913) with Mozambique and the Tripartite Labour Agreement (1937)with colonial Malawi and Zambia. The foreign labour supply and contractsystem was later expanded into the Rhodesia Native Labour SupplyCommission (1946) which was established as a parastatal when farmerscould not satisfy their labour demands from inside the country. Underthe contract labour system, the Rhodesia Native Labour SupplyCommission (RNLSC) imported an average of 14 000 workers per yearfrom 1946 to 1971.3The contract labour system established through the RNLSC expandedto its peak in the late 1950s and, by 1966, for instance, 54 percent of malelabour in the large-scale farming sector came from the surroundingcountries.4 According to D. G. Clarke, by the 1940s, the divorce of manypeasant producers from their means of production created the basis forthe growing class of fully proletarianised urban-industrial workers, as2. C. van Onselen (1976) Chibaro: African Mine Labour in Southern Rhodesia (London. PlutoPress), 25.3. B. Duncan (1973) "The wages and labour supply conditions in European agriculture", inRhodesian Journal of Economics, 7, 73.4. Ibid.14 ELDERLY WORKERS ON ZIMBABWE'S LARGE SCALE COMMERCIAL FARMSwell as a more stable on-farm labour force wholly dependent on wageincomes for subsistence.5Factors that prompted people from neighbouring territories to acceptwork in Southern Rhodesia were largely the same as those that werecompelling local Africans to enter the wage labour system. While landdispossession and the collapse of African agriculture under colonial ruleaffected all Africans of the sub-region, in Malawi and Mozambique,conditions were so appalling that work in a neighbouring colony wasregarded as a better alternative. This fits very well into Sharon Stitcher'score-periphery labour theory, which says that; "wherever urban wagesare higher than peasant incomes ... workers will choose to try their luckin the labour market."6 Workers from Zambia, Mozambique and Malawiwere, therefore, attracted to Southern Rhodesia by higher wages andbetter working conditions. In the case of Mozambique, for instance, therewere not enough settlers to take over the land and, therefore, thePortuguese had established a system of forced labour called chibharo in1899, a system that continued until 1961.7 This system dictated that allAfricans of the Portuguese provinces were subject to a legal obligation towork on private estates and public enterprises. If they did not comply,the public authorities, the sipai (policemen), could force them to do so.8Chibharo labourers of Mozambique, who were brutalised by policeand even military authorities were, with minor exceptions, not entitled tofood or lodgings, were often beaten up, and received little or no wages.9Although women were supposedly exempt, they were often forced towork and were abused by overseers and farm owners. The legal time limitof twelve months per contract was often ignored and some men foundthemselves being shipped to distant plantations, for instance, from theTete province to Luabo sugar plantations along the coast, where theystayed for as long as two years. Solomon Kwinjo, an ex-farm worker atMazoe River Bridge, recalls the reasons that prompted him to fleeMozambique with his brothers and colleagues in 1953:Conditions under the Portuguese were terrible. We were forced to workon sugar plantations for nothing. They beat us. They took our women.It was our dream to escape. People talked of Salisbury as a better place.So. like many others, we abandoned our homes and left.105. Clarke, Agriculture and Plantation Workers, 17.6. S. Stitcher (9185) Migrant Workers (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press), 89.7. A. Isaacman (1966) Cotton is the Mother of Poverty: Peasants, Workers and the RuralStruggle in Colonial Mozambique: 193861 (London. James Currey), 24.8. Ibid.9. Solomon Kwinjo, Interview, Mazoe River Bridge, 7 February 1999.10. IbidJ. M. CHADYA AND P. MAYAVO 15In Malawi and Zambia, poverty forced people to look for workelsewhere. Abraham Likosa, a worker at a farm in Concession, remembersthe time when a white farmer from Rhodesia came with a lorry to Likosa'svillage in southern Zambia to recruit workers. In return for labour services,the farmer promised to provide his workers with food, accommodation, adecent wage, and other financial allowances which would be sent back totheir own villages to support the families they would leave behind."However, one Silas Phiri's experience regarding allowances sent back tohis family in Malawi was disappointing. Phiri left Malawi in 1943 to workon a farm in the then Southern Rhodesia. Ten years later, he went backhome only to find that no allowances had been sent to his family.Desperation forced him to return to Southern Rhodesia with his family,again in the hope that one day he would have saved enough to return toMalawi with money and possessions to establish himself in hiscommunity.12 Unfortunately, at 1999, Silas Phiri was old and still withoutsavings of any kind. That dream had dwindled over the years into nothing."I no longer think of going back home. Home is here (Zimbabwe). I havelost all hope of ever going back to Malawi,"13 he said, dispiritedly.After Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, civil conflict in neighbouringMozambique produced a flow of refugees from that country into Zimbabwe.Most of the immigrants found their way into the agricultural sector. Evenwhen the civil war ended, Mozambicans continued to cross the border toseek employment in Zimbabwe.THE CURSE OF OLD AGEElderly workers in the agricultural sector include those workers who,despite having reached retirement age, have continued to provide servicesto the employers, usually under "special" conditions. In agriculture, theseworkers constitute a special group of workers who also include thosewith physical or mental disabilities and who are employed to do some ofthe work normally done by able-bodied employees.14 Under the LabourRelations Act of 1985, retirement age in the agricultural sector is sixtyyears. From the census statistics of 1982, it was established that, of the1.6 million people on commercial farms, over five percent were in thesixty-and-above age group.1511. Abraham Likosa. Interview, Concession, 22 March 1999.12. Silas Phiri, Interview, Concession Squatter Camp, 27 March 1999.13. Ibid.14. See Statutory Instrument 320. of the Labour Relations Act, Chapter 28, 1985.15. R. Loewenson and C. Chinhori (1986) "The socio-economic situation of commercial farmworkers in Zimbabwe", in SIDA Review, 65.16 ELDERLY WORKERS ON ZIMBABWE'S LARGE SCALE COMMERCIAL FARMSHowever, there are several weaknesses in defining "elderly worker"in terms of the legal age of retirement. For the agricultural and miningsectors that have both been dominated by "foreign" migrant workers, itis difficult to ascertain the ages of "foreign" workers. A majority of theworkers, particularly those who entered the country clandestinely, havenot had any national identification particulars, thereby making it difficultto tell their ages. It has, therefore, been left to the discretion of theemployers to declare their workers retired or not. Employers oftenestimate age from the physical appearance of the worker or they seek theservices of medical doctors, whom they often bribe, to produce falsemedical reports in accordance with the employers' wishes. Indeed,sometimes, farmers/employers forced their workers to retire prematurelyin order to reduce their wage bills. Such workers were then rehired as"special" workers, earning very meagre wages.Not surprisingly, some workers were pre-maturely retired. In onecase in 1992, the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers' Union ofZimbabwe (GAPWUZ), the union for farm workers, successfully defended25 workers who had been dismissed by the farmer on medical grounds, ata farm near Harare. A medical doctor had been bribed to support thefarmer's claims, which allowed the farmer to dismiss the workers withinthe law. However, the Union successfully overturned the ruling afterreceiving independent medical confirmation that the labourers were fitfor work.16Since prospects of a better life after retirement were remote, mostworkers preferred to continue working, since this provided some form ofsecurity for the homeless worker as evidenced in the following statementby Tomi Banda of Mahamba Farm near Chakari:1 don't want to think of retirement because it reminds me of thepredicament that awaits me. Where do I go after retirement? I have nohome, no relative and no child. I would rather die here [on the farm]than retire into the wilderness.17Because of the predicament outlined above, some of the workersdeliberately understated their age in order to postpone retirement.Furthermore, some of the migrant workers, who obtained identificationparticulars at the point of entry into the country, gave wrong informationabout their age partly because of illiteracy and ignorance of their actualdate of birth. In some cases, immigrants confessed ignorance of their age,16. C. Mclvor (1995,* Zimbabwe: The Struggle for Health (Harare, CUR), 10. P. Munyanyi,Secretary General of GAPWUZ, confirmed this.17. Tomi Banda. Interview, Mahamba Farm, Chakari, 10 January 1999.J. M. CHADYA AND P. MAYAVO 17upon which registration officials estimated their ages based on theimmigrants' physical appearances.18Elderly workers existed either as a recognised group of "special"workers or "invisibly" as part of the ordinary workers, thereby makingthe retirement age of 60 only theoretical. It should also be noted thatsome workers were worn out faster than others and, therefore, lookedmuch older than their ages. This can be explained by several factors,including the nature of their work, nutrition, and levels of hygiene. Thus,due to their inevitable diminishing productive capacity, such workerswere often forced to retire or to become "special workers" doing "lightwork". There was, however, little difference between the workload of so-called special workers and that of ordinary workers, as "special workers"had, often, to contend with equally arduous work as the so-called ordinaryworkers. They, arguably, felt the burden of work more given their age.Indeed, as sixty-year-old Moses Kapaisa of Darwendale complained, "ifdone continuously for too long, light work can eventually equal or evensurpass the hard work done by fit and energetic workers".19Moreover, "special workers'" were exposed to the same health risksassociated with farm work as the ordinary workers as is evident in thefollowing account from Jona Kawuleza, formerly a labourer at Cafex Farmin Chakari, Kadoma. Kawuleza recalled how he left the then NorthernRhodesia in 1947 for Southern Rhodesia, where he worked on severalmines in the Chegutu district before joining farm labour on a number oflarge-scale farms around Chakari. At Cafex Farm, Kawuleza worked forPatrick Boyce and subsequently for Patrick's son, Richard. He served as ageneral worker until he was promoted to the position of foreman (thenbaasboy), the post he held until he retired in 1986. However, since hisretirement, Kawuleza remained on the farm as a "special" foreman, "thanksto the goodwill of my piccanin baas (Richard)".20 Explaining his job as a"special" foreman, Kawuleza said:I was given charge of women grading tobacco in the sheds. As youknow, a good leader should lead by example. I was always commendedfor showing women under my supervision how best to grade tobacco.As a result, I managed to win my boss' favours to stay on the farm foryears since retirement, until the farm was acquired for resettlement.21Unfortunately, in 1991, Kawuleza was diagnosed with tuberculosisand a skin disease that he believed to be directly linked to the hazards of18. Charles Mafika. Interview, VVhetcliffe Farm, Concession. 27 March 1999.19. Moses Kapaisa, Interview, Darwendale, 16 March 1999.20. Jona Kawuleza. Interview, Cafex Farm. Chakari. 10 January 1999.ZX.lbid.18 ELDERLY WORKERS ON ZIMBABWE'S LARGE SCALE COMMERCIAL FARMSfarm work, in general, and his work at Cafex Farm, specifically. That workon farms could be hazardous to health was clearly documented by D. G.Clarke who found that, of the tuberculosis cases found at a missionhospital in the Chinamhora Communal Lands in 1976, 75 percent hadcome from large-scale farms.22 This is not surprising given the crampedliving conditions in the farm compounds, lack of protection fromdangerous farm chemicals and the absence of clean water and propersanitation that were endemic to most commercial farms. These conditionshad deleterious consequences for all workers, but particularly for youngchildren, pregnant women, and the elderly.Injuries from farm machinery, pesticide poisoning, and chemicallyinduced skin diseases were commonplace. This was particularly worse insuch occupations as grading, tying, and packing of tobacco. Tobaccobarns, in which the grading and tying of tobacco were carried out,accumulated large amounts of a fine dust that was an irritant wheninhaled over a long period. Thus, ill health and lack of special amenitiescombined with an uncertain future to worsen the plight of elderly workers.The elderly workers' tasks included protecting crops from wild birds,herding livestock, as well as general cleaning, especially in and aroundtobacco grading sheds. Some also worked in the employers' gardens,while others were expected to supervise women and children employedin grading cotton and tobacco, curing tobacco and vegetable production.At face value, such supervisory duties appear light and easy, yet, inpractice, they were quite challenging, especially since "supervisors/foremen" were regarded as group leaders who were expected to lead byexample. In order to impress their employers, supervisors often workedharder than the people they were supposed to supervise. As JeremiahKainos of Magaya Farm in Banket noted, "You should be seen to beknowledgeable, hardworking, and reliable. Otherwise you will be told togo".23Some elderly workers interviewed reported that they detested themonotony of manning farm gates all day and/or night long and of scaringbirds away from the fields; a task which was better suited to children,given the expansive nature of most fields on commercial farms. Whenthey sometimes left their posts to answer to the call of nature or fellasleep on the job from boredom and fatigue, they were subjected toverbal abuse and were humiliated by their often much younger, whiteemployers. As 67-year old Chari Musapu of Dendera Farm in Kadomacomplained, "Imagine an old man like me being called all sorts of names22. Clarke, Agricultural and Plantation Workers, 21-34.23. Jeremiah Kainos. Interview, Magaya Farm. Banket, 20 March 1999.J. M. CHADYA AND P. MAYAVO 19by a piccanin boss much younger than me, simply because I left the gateunattended in order to relieve myself. I am reduced to a small boy!"24Moreover, during peak agricultural seasons, such as cotton pickingtime, "special" workers were often temporarily demoted to ordinaryworkers and asked to work equally with the other workers. As Kawulezaargued, the classification of workers was merely a cosmetic undertaking,for "as long as you are employed on a farm, you should be prepared to doall sorts of work. This has always been the case since colonial times".25For the majority of farm workers, old age held no prospects of aneasier or comfortable retirement. Once the ability to work diminished,most workers were summarily dismissed, while others were allowed tostay on the farm with little or no compensation for a lifetime of hard workin the service of their employers. Before independence, there was noobligation on the part of the employer to provide terminal benefits forretired workers. However, some farmers ran voluntary pension schemesfor their workers, but due to inter-farm migration, illiteracy and poorrecord keeping or dishonesty on the part of the farm owners, manyworkers lost out on benefits due to them. In the post-independenceperiod, GAPWUZ offices were inundated by complaints from retired farmworkers who had failed to access their pension benefits to which theyhad been contributing since the colonial times.26 For instance, one JohnDunduza, in his late sixties, reported that he had worked on a large-scalefarm for most of his life and had consistently contributed towards hispension. Yet, when he came back to the farm to claim his pension benefitsafter retirement, he found out that the farm had a new owner and that theoriginal owner, with whom he had made the arrangements, was no longerthere. He, therefore, could not access his money.27Retirement was especially difficult for the so-called foreign workers.Unlike most of the "indigenous" farm workers who maintained contactswith their extended families and kin in the communal areas, or retained apiece of land they could retire to, a majority of "foreign" workers did nothave this safety net. Despite having lived in Zimbabwe for generations,they lacked the ethnic ties and nationality rights needed to own land. Asa result, upon retirement, many "foreign" workers either sought refuge inold people's homes or, if they were lucky, lived with their children orwith those few relatives who had, somehow, obtained land in theCommunal Areas. The rest became "squatters".24. Chari Musapu, Interview, Dendera Farm. 6 February 1999.25.Jona Kawuleza, Interview, 10 January 1999.26. Philip Munyanyi, Interview, GAPWUZ Secretary General, Harare. 16 April 1999.27. John Dunduza, Interview, Harare Š GAPWUZ offices, 30 March 1999.20 ELDERLY WORKERS ON ZIMBABWE'S LARGE SCALE COMMERCIAL FARMSThe problem of accommodating former farm workers can be tracedback into the colonial period, particularly at the height of the liberationstruggle when several farm owners abandoned their farms together withtheir work force as the security situation deteriorated. The plight offoreign farm workers did not improve with independence as they wereoften left out in government's post-independence resettlementprogrammes, for, according to Mudekunye:To qualify for resettlement, it is necessary to have a Zimbabwean IDand to have registered for resettlement. Though older workers haveworked in Zimbabwe for up to 40 years and their children have beenborn in Zimbabwe and are now also working on farms, for a variety ofreasons, many have failed to obtain Zimbabwean documents. In manycases, the problem is that the mothers did not obtain documents underthe dispensation in 1984-5, possibly as a result of not realising thatboth women and men required documents. (Moreover) few farm workersever anticipated the need for resettlement and. therefore, did notregister.28From the above, it is clear that the Zimbabwe government has had nopolicy for the resettlement of farm workers in general, let alone the so-called foreigners. Addressing a Commercial Farmers Union's AnnualCongress in 1981, the then Minister of Lands, Resettlement and RuralDevelopment said:Nobody can expect government now, with all the other problems, tosay that these people who are of Malawi. Mozambican and Zambianextraction should be accommodated elsewhere. You know as well as Ido that they cannot even be accommodated in the TTLs.29Significantly, the 1992 Land Acquisition Act was silent on the issue offarm workers. Consequently, in the late 1990s, there were many cases offormer workers being forcibly removed from the acquired farms sincethey were not on the list of people earmarked for resettlement. Hence,the emergence of "squatter" settlements was inevitable. One good exampleof such settlements is in Concession, 60 kms from Harare, where, in 1999,elderly "foreigners", mostly from the adjoining large-scale farms,constituted the majority of the population of the squatter camps. R. Nota,a migrant worker from Mozambique, said that he had been given nothingon retirement and then he was asked to vacate the farm in order to makeway for new employees.30 The "squatter" population had, indeed, becomeformidable by 1999, for as Moyo estimates, by this date, squatters28. L. Mudekunye, "Land Designation and Farm Workers", Seminar Paper. IDS.29. Commercial Farmers Union, Annual Congress Report, 1981.30. Richard Nota, Interview, Concession Squatter Camp, 27 March 1999J. M. CHADYA AND P. MAYAVO 21amounted to over 200 000 families in various locations within communalareas, private commercial farms and in state lands.31 As at 2000, theproblem of resettling farm workers had not yet been resolved.The government's controversial "fast track" land redistributionexercise, which started on the eve of the June 2000 parliamentary elections,has left farm workers, particularly the elderly, generally worse off.Overnight, these workers were told to vacate the farms to make room forindigenous settlers; they often found themselves caught in the violenceon commercial farms that accompanied the forcible acquisition of farmsby government supporters. The tragic situation of so-called foreign farmworkers was reflected in the statement by Mbuya Muchapaza of MaraFarm, which had just been "invaded" by war veterans that: "I have nowhereto go. I came from Malawi. My two sons died of Aids".32 Although themedia concentrated on the highly visible white commercial farmers whowere displaced, beaten up or killed, it was, in fact, the farm workers whobore the worst brunt of the violent farm invasions but who remained"invisible" in both the national and international media reports. Theirhouses were torched, while they were beaten up and driven off theoccupied farms.GENERAL AGRICULTURAL AND PLANTATION WORKERS UNION OFZIMBABWE (GAPWUZ)Meanwhile, since independence, government displayed little interest inthe plight of the foreign workers, while the organisation that was supposedto defend their interests as farm workers, GAPWUZ, consistently failed toprotect and promote the farm workers' interests. GAPWUZ's failure canpartly be explained by its weak bargaining position vis a vis the commercialfarm workers and the government, especially given the fact that, in boththe pre-and post-colonial era, large-scale commercial farmers, membersof the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), either held government posts orwielded a great deal of influence over policy makers.The CFU dates back to 1942 when it was founded as the RhodesiaNational Farmers Union to make representations to government on behalfof farmers. In the colonial period, commercial farmers occupied seniorpositions in government. For instance, 10 out of the 18 cabinet ministersin 1964 were large-scale farm owners, including the Prime Minister, IanSmith, who owned a ranching estate in Shurugwi. Similarly, in theindependence period, many powerful policymakers acquired commercialfarms and thus joined the ranks of the CFU or, at least, identified with the31. S. Moyo (1999^ Land and Democracy in Zimbabwe (Harare, Sapes).32. Mbuya Muchapaza, Interview, Mara Farm, Harare, 19 September 2000.22 ELDERLY WORKERS ON ZIMBABWE'S LARGE SCALE COMMERCIAL FARMSinterests of its members. This made it extremely difficult for GAPWUZ toeffectively carry out its mandate, mostly out of fear of victimisation.Unlike the CFU, GAPWUZ is a young organisation formed in 1982.Government does not fund GAPWUZ, hence it relies on subscriptionsfrom members. Unfortunately, a number of farm workers are not membersof the Union for fear of victimisation by employers, among other reasons.As such, GAPWUZ has had to rely on the goodwill of a few sympatheticdonors. Since GAPWUZ has done little for farm workers in general, andthe "special" elderly workers in particular, it can hardly be expected todo much for the retired farm workers.The conditions under which farm labour, in general, has beenmaintained have also created a fragmented workforce that has, often,made it difficult for the workers to articulate and lobby for its demands.Another limiting factor has been the impermanence and seasonal natureof the majority of the workforce. The phenomenon has survived into thepost-colonial period despite legislation to protect workers againstdiscrimination. Under the Labour Relations Act (1985), agriculturalworkers are entitled to pension rights, maternity benefits, protectionagainst unfair dismissal, sick leave, and certain minimum standards ofsafety at work. In response to this legislation, farmers have sought tobypass the Act by de-classifying their employees from permanent toseasonal, contract, casual, special or part-time status, despite theemployees' long periods of service. The Labour Relations Act does notcover these categories of workers.Under the Act, agricultural workers are categorised as permanentand non-permanent labourers. According to the Labour Relations Act,permanent staff should be engaged on full time basis and should beearning wages above the minimum levels. They cannot be dismissedwithout prior state/union consent. Non-permanent workers have furtherbeen divided into five sub-categories, namely, seasonal workers who areemployed for up to 12 months of continuous service; contract workersemployed on a temporary basis to carry out piece/task work set by theemployer; casual workers with up to six months of continuous serviceper three calendar months, and paid on weekly/hourly basis; part-timeworkers employed for less than five hours per day or 30 hours per week,and paid on daily/weekly basis; and the special group which comprisesthose with physical or mental disabilities, employed to do only part ofthe work of an able-bodied employee.33 It is into this latter group thatelderly farm workers fall.33. See Statutory Instrument 320, National Employment Council (Agriculture). 1985: Mclvor,Zimbabwe: The Struggle for Health.J. M. CHADYA AND P. MAYAVO 23This labour classification has allowed farmers to divide workers intodistinct camps, thus compromising workers' chances of organisingthemselves into a united workers' organisation capable of effectivelyrepresenting the workers' interests. Thus, workers' committees haveexisted in name only as they have either been made up of employer's/foremen's favourites and, therefore, tended to stifle any form of collectiveaction, or have generally been afraid to challenge the employers.Moreover, the general lack of financial provisions for old age hastended to promote a sense of resignation among farm workers, as workershave often feared lodging complaints about excessive work, unsafeconditions, and poor housing for fear of losing the "goodwill" of thefarmer and his help when their lives are over.NOTHING TO LOOK FORWARD TOAt retirement, foreign farm workers have very little to look forward to, astheir lack of access to land and financial resources means that they arecondemned to wretchedness for the remainder of their lives. A few lucky"foreign" farm workers, with links in the communal areas, have managedto access some land in the Communal Areas. However, even here, villageauthorities, at times, demand that these "foreigners" produce proof ofcitizenship as a condition for settling among them. Moreover, such settlershave often been allocated sections with poor soils that nobody else in thevillage wants. For others, such as January Chomola, a sixty-year old ex-farm worker, originally from Zambia but now settled in Sanyati CommunalLands, the marginal land allocated to them, lack of inputs, and old agehave combined to make existence difficult.34The few lucky ones are, sometimes, allowed to remain on the farmsafter retirement and are allocated small pieces of land sufficient for theirimmediate needs and a hut in the compound. However, these elderlyfarm workers still find problems fending for themselves, since most donot have families. This is demonstrated in the following account byAgushto Aphiri, resident of the Society of the Destitute Aged (SODA) inHighfield, Harare, who had sustained burns as he was trying to preparehis supper. In his own words,I left Mozambique in 1952 . . . left my wife there and, therefore, did notmarry when I got here, hoping that I would go back some day, which 1never did. Meanwhile, I was just living in with several women (kubikamapoto) and I never had children with any one of them ... [I was] tryingto prepare my supper when 1 dozed off and my clothes caught fire,hence these burns.3534. January Chomola, Interview, Chidaushe Village, Sanyati, 28 December 1999.35. Agushto Aphiri, Interview, Society for the Destitute Aged, Highfield. 28 January 1999.24 ELDERLY WORKERS ON ZIMBABWE'S LARGE SCALE COMMERCIAL FARMSHad such elderly workers been able to return to their original homes,they might have had a more tolerable existence in the lands of their birth,but this was and is not always possible for a variety of reasons. Onereason is that many have lost contact with their relatives, as they havenever gone back to visit them since they came to Southern Rhodesia. ForMozambicans, for instance, the Mozambican civil war precluded anychances for emigrants to return to their country, while those from Zambiaand Malawi blamed their extended stay on "purezha" [having a good timewith women and beer drinking] and debt peonage on the farms thatprevented them from saving enough for periodic trips to their originalcountries. Others cited their marriage to locals as a contributing factor,arguing that their local spouses were generally not willing to leaveZimbabwe. The longer they stayed in Zimbabwe, the more remote becamethe possibility of ever returning "home", particularly since they had nosavings or property and were, thus, embarrassed to return to theircommunities with nothing to show for their long absence.An example is one Peter Zulu, who migrated from Zambia in 1949 towork in the large-scale farms of Hurungwe and Karoi. He was retrenchedin 1995 but had very little money to finance his old age. He, eventually,settled at a squatter camp in Concession. After 46 years as a farm worker,Zulu had nothing to show for his efforts, particularly since he received nopension. He could, therefore, not afford to return to Zambia even if hehad wanted to and, in any case, was too embarrassed to return emptyhanded.36 In his own words,It is embarrassing to go home empty handed and in these rags after somany years of absence. I never sent anything to my wife and childrenback home during my stay in this country. How do I face them! How doI know that they are still alive? I am ashamed of myself.37The Aids pandemic has also complicated the problems of elderlyfarm workers in Zimbabwe, many of whom have found themselves saddledwith the burden of looking after children and grandchildren afflicted byAids. This has proved to be a nightmare given their age, status on thefarm and economic hardships. Mbuya Siwela, originally from Zambia,but, now at SODA, recalled her ordeal at Mazoe Estate. She spoke of howshe nursed her Aids-afflicted daughter for a long time until the daughtereventually died, after which she had to look after her daughter's children.With tears in her eyes, she said:Life became so unbearable and, had it not been for the feedingprogramme for orphans on the Estate, 1 do not know how my36. Peter Zulu, Interview, Concession Squatter Camp, 27 March 1999.37. Ibid.J. M. CHADYA AND P. MAYAVO 25grandchildren could have survived. 1 hope the Estate management willcontinue to look after my grand children.38Another important issue relates to the fact that retired workers arenot always permitted to remain on the farm when their productive livesare over, while those who died on the farms are given a shoddy burial.According to one Thomas Tabwarika of Muzvezve Resettlement Area, "assoon as they realise that you are a liability...if you become ill or old, theygive you marching orders".39 He added that the burial of those who diedon the farms was perfunctory and undignified, more so if one died duringthe peak agricultural season when all hands were required in the fields.Under such circumstances, it was not unusual for the farmer to allocateonly four workers to the burial, while the rest of the farm workerscontinued to do business as normal. Only those who were "lucky" to dieduring the off-season could attract a decent gathering at their funeral.Even then, farmers were generally reluctant to apportion a piece of landfor a cemetery for their deceased workers, let alone to contribute towardsfuneral expenses.CONCLUSIONAs has been argued above, the life of elderly foreign farm workers has notbeen an easy one, as they are confronted by a myriad of problems, amongwhich are poor working conditions, lack of acceptance as citizens despiteworking all their lives in the country, lack of security at retirement, andlack of access to land for resettlement, among others. Because theirwages do not allow them to save, they cannot even return to theiroriginal countries after retirement as they do not have the wherewithal todo so. Unlike migrant workers to the mines, who are repatriated to theirhome countries at the end of their contracts, farm workers are left to fendfor themselves - an impossible task given their meagre wages and lack ofsavings.In addition, as has been shown, some elderly foreign farm workershave not been able to return to their home countries for a variety of otherreasons, such as the civil war in Mozambique, loss of contacts withfamilies back home, and generally being ashamed to return with nothingafter long absences from their original communities. Moreover, whilelocal workers can retire to their Communal homes, foreign workers havenowhere to turn to as access to lands in the Communal areas is often38. Mbuya Siwela. Interview, SODA. Highfleld, 28 January 1999.39. Thomas Tabwarika, Interview, Muzvezve Resettlement Area, Kadoma, 28 August 2000.Tabwarika is of Malawi descent and he worked on several farms in Kadoma District forover 30 years.26 ELDERLY WORKERS ON ZIMBABWE'S LARGE SCALE COMMERCIAL FARMSdenied them. Meanwhile, with very few exceptions, farmers are not keento keep unproductive elderly people on their farms and evict them fromthe farms as soon as they are of no economic use to the farmers.Furthermore, the state's controversial and ambiguous land reformprogramme has left farm workers worse off, especially under thegovernment's "fast track" resettlement programme. Despite the fact thatmany of the "foreign" farm workers and their descendants have workedin Zimbabwe for most of their lives, they have not been recognised ascitizens who are eligible for resettlement. In the light of all this, old agefor farm workers, in general, is a difficult time, while for the elderlyworkers of foreign origin, in particular, it is a veritable curse.