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Today on May 1, 2025, the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) and the Labour Economists and Afrikan Democrats (LEAD) join the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the working class, and progressive forces across the globe in commemorating the 2025 International Workers’ Day with calls for transparency and accountability.
On its part, CWGH said it commemorates those lost to accidents and injuries at work.
“Today we add thousands more lost to diseases that could have been prevented like AIDS, TB, Malaria, Covid-19, Typhoid, and Cholera. More mothers continue to die in pregnancy and childbirth from preventable and avoidable deaths.
“This year’s national theme: “End Corruption, End Workers’ Exploitation: Workers United for Social Justice,” resonates deeply, particularly within the health sector. It is undeniable that the deplorable state of the country’s health system requires urgent attention, especially giving priority focus to revitalizing the PHC concept and philosophy that once worked so well and gave Zimbabwe health leadership within the SADC and beyond in the yesteryear,” CWGH said.
The health experts said that currently, infrastructure in hospitals is dilapidated with some being obsolete; medicines and supplies are in short supply; doctors, laboratorians, pharmacists, paramedics and nurses are inadequate and poorly motivated. They argued that the situation, against a background of sustained paltry funding to the sector from national fiscus is of major concern.
CWGH said the problems in the health sector are compounded by the very high prevalence of largely preventable diseases as well as behaviour, lifestyles, and environmental and basic water and sanitation issues.
“The health care workforce which is the bedrock of effective and efficient health care systems has continued to suffer significant disturbances, yet they remain invisible and suffer vulnerabilities including the poor conditions of service. The country has failed to stabilize the brain drain for several decades now. Healthcare workers (HCWs) continue to be trained but fail to fill the posts established in the 1980s, let alone the posts and establishment required to deal with the current population, disease epidemiology, and health and development targets. They have continued to enrich other establishments and countries while the gap they leave in the country’s institutions continues to widen.
“The government should develop concrete actions not only to address the current and pressing health sector requirements but ensure that the impending transitioning out of major funders that has been announced is factored into the national planning for domestic resources mobilization for health and its determinants for the long haul,” said Itai Rusike, the CWGH Executive Director.
He urged the government to design and implement new and innovative domestic health financing policies to fund a strengthened primary health care strategy to achieve universal health coverage.
“We take this opportunity to remind the government that some Zimbabweans when ill, still walk over 30 kilometers to the nearest health facilities to seek treatment, especially in the remote locations, farming, and resettlement areas, defeating the noble concept of a clinic within every 10 km radius. Some are transported in wheelbarrows and scotch-carts either because there are no ambulances, or service vehicles, and if available it has no fuel, or the roads are impassable. Poor people depend on public health services and cannot afford private services.
“Yet the cost of health services in these institutions has also gone beyond the reach of many as poor patients are being asked to pay for blood, drugs, diagnostics, and sundries at our public health institutions. The CWGH expresses its solidarity with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union and the workers in formal, informal, rural, urban, and domestic employment in Zimbabwe. Many work under harsh conditions, and live under even worse conditions.”
Linda Masarira, the President of LEAD, said millions of workers in Zimbabwe continue to endure poverty wages, unsafe working conditions, and systemic neglect by the state and employers.
“The theme for this year is not only a call to action, but a revolutionary mandate to dismantle the twin evils of corruption and exploitation that have crippled our labour force and national economy.
“LEAD recognizes the pivotal role that workers play in national development and affirms that sustainable economic growth is only possible when the dignity and welfare of workers are fully respected. We strongly condemn the continued informalisation of labour, the disregard for collective bargaining agreements, and the deliberate weakening of trade unions.
“We further echo the workers’ demand for social justice, which includes:
▪︎A living wage for all workers,
▪︎Fair and safe working conditions,
▪︎Transparent use of pension and social security funds,
▪︎ An end to workplace discrimination and gender-based exploitation,
▪︎ Immediate alignment of labour laws with the Constitution of Zimbabwe,” she said.
The politician added that corruption is the greatest enemy of development. It diverts resources meant for social services, healthcare, education, and infrastructure forcing workers to shoulder the burdens of poverty while a few elites thrive.
“LEAD reaffirms its commitment to fighting corruption at every level of governance and to building a Zimbabwe that works for the many, not the few. We call on all workers across sectors to unite in reclaiming their power, defending their rights, and pushing for structural reforms that advance the principles of Pan-Afrikanism, labour justice, and human dignity.
“As LEAD, we are not mere sympathisers of the workers’ struggle, we are part of it. We salute ZCTU for organizing nationwide commemorations and reaffirm our solidarity in building a just, inclusive and economically empowered Zimbabwe,” Masarira added.
