"Uproar over 'slavery' on Zimbabwe farms", 21 Sept 2017

Farmworkers in Zimbabwe can now be employed for four and half years by the same employer on short-term contracts, an arrangement that leaves them vulnerable to abuse and without terminal benefits. According to Statutory Instrument 67 of 217 giving legal force to the 2016 collective agreement in the agricultural industry that replaced conditions set in 2014, the contracts of nine months are now renewable six times...[S]ome unions are now up in arms against the collective bargaining agreement, saying it condemned farm workers to slavery..Farm workers get a measly $75 a month...In Macheke, where some of the biggest tobacco producers are found, workers said their lives had become hell after the agreement gazetted in December last year...Other farm labourers said they were subjected to long working hours and were exposed to harmful chemicals as they had no protective clothing..."On average, we are paid $2,77 a day for 26 days a month," said one of the workers who identified herself as Tsitsi Katsande. "However, getting that money is a real struggle. We are paid in groceries most of the time...At one of the farms, the owner was seen giving his workers bathing soap as their monthly pay. The workers said they could not protest for fear of losing their jobs...Last Ngoma said most workers at the farms had no protective clothing and did not get assistance from their employers when they fell sick...