The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions said the government’s demolition of thousands of makeshift homes across the country has had a significant impact on industrial production. The labor organization said it conducted a survey and disclosed preliminary findings that working hours have sharply declined.
ZCTU Secretary General Wellington Chibhebe said this contraction of activity is due to the the disruption of worker households and the state drive to force people to relocate to their rural places of origin. Mr. Chibhebe added that workers held at Caledonia Farm, a transit camp outside Harare, have not been able to reach their places of employment in town. Research on Caledonia Farm was cut short, said Mr. Chibhebe, as police there insisted that officials in Harare clear visitors.
Reporter Chris Gande of VOA’s Studio 7 for Zimbabwe spoke with Mr. Chibhebe about the findings of the trade union survey.
