Employmentweb_low

employment relations and health inequalities: a conceptual and empirical overvieW
When britain tried to decolonise rhodesia in the 1960s, it was opposed by the white settlers who eventually made the
unilateral declaration of independence (udi) in 1965, which was unrecognised by britain. ian smith, the prime minister of
the british self-governing colony of southern rhodesia, insisted that the white settlers would not transfer political power to
the black elite. culminating in the land tenure act of 1969, legislation was passed to divide the land up into white- and blackowned
areas. the weak and divided nationalist black organisations, Zimbabwe african national union (Zanu) and Zimbabwe
african people's union (Zapu), went into exile and organised limited guerrilla operations against the smith regime. in the
1970s, influenced by the Frelimo movement in mozambique, Zanu moved away from carrying out limited guerrilla
incursions towards building a base of support among the rural masses and stepping up the war against the white regime.
robert mugabe came to the leadership of Zanu by using the growing popular support obtained by this radical-sounding land
programme against the older, more conservative leaders. at the same time, mugabe suppressed more radical sections of the
guerrillas who opposed a deal with britain and the smith regime, including the murder of 300 guerrilla fighters in 1977.
by the mid 1970s, the decline of the rhodesian economy and fear of a radicalisation of the masses forced britain and
the us to a deal with mugabe. on april 1980, the country attained independence along with the new name of Zimbabwe with
a government led by mugabe. all the factions in rhodesia agreed to a new constitution and free elections, and the
conservative british government led by margaret thatcher gave full support to mugabe. mugabe agreed to pay off the debts
built up by the smith regime in financing the war, major pro-business decisions were made, all promises of land
nationalisation were dropped and the large white farmers were guaranteed 10 years of ownership of their land if they wished
to stay. the small farmers and landless got virtually nothing. between 1980 and 2000 only 70,000 out of approximately one
million farmers on the poorest communal area land were resettled, and nothing was done to remove the white farmers and
organise land reform.
in 1991, when the rhetoric of socialism disappeared with the collapse of the stalinist regimes, the mugabe government
adopted the imF's economic and structural adjustment programme. even though mugabe attempted to fully implement the
neo-liberal economic policies, earning the praise of the World bank in 1995 as "highly satisfactory", the results have been
disastrous. between 1990 and 1995 per-capita spending on healthcare fell by 20 per cent, 18,000 public sector jobs were
abolished and the civil service wage bill reduced from 15.3 per cent to 11.3 per cent of gdp between 1990 in 1994. Foreign
exchange controls were removed and trade tariffs lowered. liberalisation first hit the weak manufacturing sector, but by the
late 1990s the crucial exporting agricultural sectors such as tobacco, together with mining, were hit by falling prices. debt
levels rose to $us4.3 billion by 2000, taking as much as 38 per cent of foreign export earnings in 1998. With the increase of
unemployment and decline in real income, there was a wave of strikes and the opposition party, the movement for
democratic change (mdc), attracted growing support. it was only during this large crisis, when it was not possible to meet
the increasing demands of the imF without losing more support, that mugabe resurrected the land issue. Whereas land
occupations had been suppressed by the police in the 1990s, in 2000 mugabe began backing the war veterans' movement
and encouraged the takeover of white farms. a band of unemployed youth were paid to intimidate and in some cases murder
white farmers, as tens of thousands of poor farmers and landless peoples began occupying the higher-grade land. no
attempt was made to nationalise the land, and while a relatively small number of small farmers gained land, the big gains
were made by the elites. While mugabe hoped that the attacks on white farmers would persuade britain and the
international bankers to make more concessions, his land programme has been entirely consistent with his bourgeois
nationalist politics, and his attempt to gain popular support is completely subordinate to the interests of the black elite who
have increased their personal fortunes. indeed, mugabe's politics have been similar to many other african black bourgeois
regimes professing pan africanist (or socialist) views supported by colonial powers when colonial rule ended in the 1960s.
the Zimbabwean elite, most of them educated in Western universities, were used by colonial powers to maintain their
economic domination of the country, either through the development of native industries through policies of import
substitution and financial aid from the West, or in the form of taxes on international corporations that continue to operate.
private companies, including several hundred that are british-owned, have been left untouched.
the regime of sanctions and economic boycott imposed by neo-colonial forces and agencies has had a devastating
impact on Zimbabwe. the 2008 election has been qualified as the most important since independence in 1980 but there will
not be an effective and egalitarian solution to the current global crisis and the land question without taking the main core
of production and finance out of the hands of the multinationals and the local elite and placing it under democratic control
and ownership of the working people and poor farmers.
Sources
crisis in Zimbawe coalition at time to act. retrieved from http:// www.crisiszimbabwe.org
international confederation of Free trade unions. retrieved from http://www.icftu.org
Zimbabwe congress of trade unions. retrieved from http://www.zctu.co.zw
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