If they are dispossessed of their jobs they will be competing for work in a market that has been incredibly unsuccessful since independence at generating new jobs. They stand to lose everything if they are forced off the land. Life has never been easy on the farms. The 4,500 white-owned estates are Zimbabwe's biggest employer. They also pay the lowest wages.
Maids earn more than farm workers.
Employers say they provide free housing, basic foodstuffs and an education for their workers' children. But conditions vary substantially between farms, and some farmers have found the old habit of abuse from the days of racist white rule hard to break. He has worked there since about the time Ian Smith made Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence. At that time his main concern was the paltry wages, long hours and lack of protection from his employer. Within 10 years there was also the war of independence to contend with.