Chinese-owned coal mines exposed
work suit and a pair of shoes twice a year, which they said were of poor quality and only last them six months.
Kurebwa Jabangwe Nomboka, National Mine Workers Union of Zimbabwe president, said the grievances of workers at Zhong Jian and ZZCC were common among Chinese - owned mines across the country.
“We have had to deal with the resistance by the Chinese employers who do not want to adhere to our labour laws by addressing the issues at NEC level where we have pending cases awaiting redress,” Nomboka said.
“The problems we are facing with regards to violation of labour rights include non-remittance of trade union dues, arbitrary dismissals, non-payment of allowances, and underpayment of wages and non-payment of the US dollar portion of wages by companies like Zimberly Mine, ZZCC and Dinson.”
He said the situation was worsened by interference from Zanu PF officials, who negotiated with Chinese mine owners to pay wages that were lower than the gazetted minimum wage.
Nomboka said mines routinely scrapped contracts of employees, who complain of ill-treatment as they took advantage of the high unemployment rate in Zimbabwe, which means they can easily replace workers.
“When my paralegal visited NEC mining to register the cases, he was told that some of the employers do not even bother to attend hearings as they have total disdain for our labour laws,” he said.
“They behave as if they have been granted special immunity to our labour laws.
“So as much as we might want to see compliance and treatment worthy of human dignity from these Chinese employers, more needs to be done given the fact that our government is not doing anything to stop them from their malpractices.
“The only remedy available to us is to expose these irregularities at the international level so that it is Zimbabwe, which will be censured for such violations.”
At Zhong Jian, a Chinese official who identified himself as Michael said he was not interested in discussing any affairs of their company.
“Why do you keep troubling us?” the official answered through their mobile number offered on the company’s website.
“What is your matter, I am not interested in talking to you and what Zhong Jian does, please leave me alone.” he said before abruptly ending the conversation.
The ZZCC telephone lines were not answered on several occasions.
Mines and Development minister Winston Chitando encouraged workers in the mining sector to report all forms of abuse to their districts and provincial labour and mines offices for the government to take action.
“Sometime last year government launched what we called the Responsible Mining Initiative and it was a new initiative that was adopted by Cabinet where it became a requirement for all mining companies to take place in compliance with the laws of the country be it labour laws, marketing of products in formal channels, immigration laws and all the laws of the country,” Chitando told The Standard.
“Now having said that, if there are any incidents of that nature, they should be brought up to government and to my ministry and they should also report to the Ministry of Labour as they have structures, which stretch to provincial and district labour, mines and public relations officers who will act where cases of this nature have happened because they are unacceptable as all mining should take place in compliance with various laws of the country and if they are reported, necessary action will be taken.”
This investigation was supported by the US embassy's public diplomacy section.