By Own Correspondent  

OPPOSITION politician Nelson Chamisa has bemoaned the monthly peanuts salary of US$228 on the back of an assurance to place workers issues on the top priority once he takes charge.

The outcry comes at a time when University lecturers have downed tools demanding a decent salary. They have since revealed they are taking home just US$228 per month despite having reached dizzy heights in attaining higher qualifications.

 However, poor remuneration is not only experienced by the lecturers fraternity as it has spread across the country’s economic sectors leaving many of the country’s professionals earning not more than US$300 per month.

In a statement to officially mark the 2025 Workers Day commemorations, Chamisa described Zimbabwe as a country without work for many while bemoaning that life for those with jobs is unbearable. He hailed the country’s citizens for their resilience.  

“Workers have been plunged into slavery. Many workers are earning extremely low wages rendering them working poor, basically putting them in the poverty bracket. Our teachers and nurses are suffering. The civil servants are struggling. Workers in general are without a decent living wage. University lecturers, who are currently on strike, are earning a paltry salary, an embarrassing $228 per month.

“Many workers have lost their pensions and face a difficult retirement future. Zimbabwean workers literally live, work and retire in poverty,” he said.

He said due to high unemployment and lack of government protection, many workers are stripped of their rights and freedoms, plunging many into survivalist informal employment without social security, income security or other labour rights.

 The level of poverty in the working class, Chamisa said, has driven many professionals to seek better opportunities outside the country.

The Next Government-our new government will focus on restoring the dignity of workers and the strengthening of genuine social dialogue as a means of addressing the multiple problems that workers are facing.

 “We will prioritise rebuilding the economy and public services in order to create employment opportunities for the many unemployed young Zimbabweans.We will end casualisation of jobs and stop job losses and retrenchments Labor laws and practices shall be reformed in order to strengthen protection of freedom of association, expression and collective bargaining,” added Chamisa.