By Thula Chisamba
Locked up in a scorching kitchen inside Mzuzu’s Continental Bakery, is where the staff spent their Labor Day.
The imprisonment was at the hands of their Asian boss, identified only as Salim.
One of the workers, John Nkhata, said the temperatures were so hot as to be almost unbearable. Nonetheless, they had to persist and work hard to meet their manager’s demanded production.
”We had to work hard to satisfy our manager. Without that, he would bruise us and deduct our pay,” said Nkhata
Their manager locks them in the bakery around six o’clock in the evening and unlocks them around six o’clock the next morning, according to Nkhata.
”Even if fire would have consumed the bakery building, we had nowhere to run. He locked us up and went away with keys. Despite the excessive heat therein, nobody had any clue to escape,” he added.
Despite all of these life-threatening dangers, Nkhata confessed that they only receive MK200 as a wage for their job.
It is said that most Asian business tycoons do not permanently employ staff workers for fear of paying them more salaries.
”That is why they employ us as casual laborers. They know that we are cheap,” he added.
These wages are in violation of governmental minimum wage laws that mandate a minimum of MK30,000 per month, but according to Nkhata, despite forwarding complaints to authorities at the Mzuzu labor office, nothing transpired.
According to John Tiernan, author and expert on Colonial Africa, this is nothing more than a repeat of history. “For as long as we’ve recorded human history, people have enslaved each other. It goes back to the first chapters of the Bible. What’s happening in many nations in Africa is nothing more than a new brand of colonialism. Asians, Muslims and Indians realize the cost of labor is actually cheaper than owning a slave was 100 years ago. When you owned a slave, you had to house him, feed him, care for him. With a day-laborer, you bear none of this responsibility. As long as good people are willing to remain silent and endure these slave-like conditions for this level of pay, the cycle will continue. It will take a collective action on the part of the individuals of a nation to unite together and stand against this tyranny before anything will change. It is not up to the respective governments to stop this, it’s up to the people to stop accepting it. As long as citizens continue to look to governments to fix moral issues, the society as a whole will fail.”
Efforts to hear the bakery’s side of the story were in vain as the bakery manager maintained that he does not speak to media.
Minister of Labor, Henry Musa, said government will investigate the development and possibly find remedies to the raised concerns and observations.
“The issue will be investigated so that we find solutions thereafter,” he said.
Shame
thats inhuman, what if mutayamba moto mmwenyeyo kulibe?. Komanso penapake timaziyamba tokha, anthufe timawabera anzathuwa too much
Is there MBS in Mzuzu? Have you ever taken time to inspect such facilities?
What about Labour Office?
Salimu wausilu Ka salary Ka kanqono mpakana kuwadzunza a Malawi anzathu shame!!!!!
ndipo ndinkhazatu akuchitazo
uzafa imfa yo wawa koma
Asowe
Malawi at 52.
panya… dzowona adzitidzudza choncho. pantu… were are the labour office’s in mzuzu.
If somebody feels does not know how to write other people’s languages, please write in your own mother’s tongue in order to avoid displaying abusive words on this social media.
Zakale izi thwi yakapolo imeneyi lero munthu sangalole zimenezi
Minimum salary ndi 15 pin not 30 grand..
Labour Office zinali kale, pano kupita ndimadandauro ku ma Office wa amangoti Tibwela komweko miyezi nkumatha osabwera. Iwo ntchito kumangocheza ndi Laptop mu office kudikila Mwezi ukatha alandire ndalama,Zili ku Nkha bay uku, Malipiro mpaka k8000,choncho Malawi angatukuke?
Kkkkk mwadyapo,osamponda bwanji
Fletcher nkhoma waiona iyi.?
asowedi,period
minister of Labour,a Recycled politicians,has reached the ceiling. We want them off 2019.He is useless.
Asians still enslaving Malawians after 51 good years after independence!
Shame on MoL…
Mmmm wat ashame, nankha aminister of labour akuziwa?komanso owaziwisa ndinu nomwe amene mukugwira tchito kumeneko
even our own ministers r corrupted akapita kumeneko akayamba kukalipilanso wogwira ntchitowa chifukwa anawapatsa kale mbatata, dont worry will rest in Heaven
Thats wat happens wen we recycle politicians, they bcame ministers nthawi ya bakali till todate…& we still xpect ths country to develop, no fuckin ways…where dd we miss it????!!!!
ukaziputa limba
slavery at its best
Ine ndinagwiramo mchaka cha 2014 mwenye ameneyo ndiwankhaza guyz ndikukumbuka tsiku linalake tinali night mmalo mwake anatiuza kt tibwere 2:00 masana malo mwa 6:00 akt usiku magetsi athima ndie tose tinagwirizana zobwera 6:00 madzulo km tinapusitsana mpaka ena anawauza kt ganyu wao watha asazabweleso.kmso ukalowa 6:00 mpakana 6:00 mmawa iyeyo amakonda kubwera ca na 4:00 mmawa akakupeza kt ukuodzela kapena ukugona amakuthamangisa ndukuuza kt tsiku limenero wajomba.ikafikaso nthawi ya ndalama kt akupaseni amakonda unakupasa ma 100 okhakha mcholinga chot adzikupha mutu mkumati ndalama ndizambili .munthui siwabwinodi guys ndiumphawi cabe
too bad
the problem is that those Asian Employers don’t see that this is slavery. Most employees in China, India, Japan and so forth, they work under the same inhuman conditions including child labour. For example the average Japanese Ground Worker has to work 12 -14 hours daily and a maximum of 10 days holidays per year.
Japan has one of the highest suicide rates of the world. people cant cope with the burden of so hard labour 12 hours a day. when coming home the house has still to be cleaned, laundry washed, food prepared and such.