The Sunday News
Workers from all our provinces have long been complaining about very low salaries they are earning every month and are hoping to see a change after the elections.
It is very sad that almost all workers from all the sectors of the economy have been getting monthly salaries which cannot last for a week or until they get to the next pay day.
The most affected ones include domestic workers, garden workers, messengers and security guards.
Most security guards said the job they do is too risky as they sometimes are forced to work at very dangerous premises where they can easily be attacked or killed by robbers but they are not happy with what they get at the end of the month.
Some of these security guards drive cash in transit vehicles where some of their unlucky colleagues have so far lost their lives due to the armed robberies which are on the increase in our big cities. These people should be respected and be given some living wages.
Some supermarket workers who sometimes work from as early as 5am up to 10pm in the evening complained that apart from getting very low salaries they were not delivered to their homes after working till late at night, exposing their lives to dangerous thieves.
I talked to some farm workers who were confident that after the elections they expect the situation to improve.
Their employers were taking them for granted by giving them paltry salaries which are the lowest when we compare them with other farm workers in the Southern African Region.
It is disturbing to see that the trade unions which should represent the workers have totally failed to do that and in fact chose to indulge in party politics at the expense of the workers.
We hope that our country will be normal after the elections so that struggling companies can be revived so as to enable them to pay their workers decent salaries.
