While extreme poverty continues being listed as the superlative feature among tenants in tobacco estates, marriage is one of the issues bearing the hardest brunt, Malawi News has learnt.
Our visit to some tobacco estates in Kasungu, Mchinji, Lilongwe and Dedza recently found families of up to eight people living in one-room houses which were in dilapidated conditions.
And a recent survey by the Kalondolondo Programme found that, among others, some men married more than one woman and had more children to provide the required labour force for tobacco production.
The temporary marriages, according to the survey, collapse when male tenant returns to his home district, leaving his ‘temporary’ wife behind.
The survey observes that while estate owners have favourable conditions to engage in polygamous relationships because of better incomes, tenants are restricted to ‘false’ or ‘temporary’ polygamy because of low income.
“For many tenants, [polygamy] is also used as a labour enhancement strategy. It is for [this] reason that tenants were found to have less marriage stability than the smallholder farmers. In fact, 21 percent of the tenants were in their second marriages compared to 18 percent of smallholder farmers,” the study states.
It adds that most of the marriages that tenants engage in at their place of work are not long lasting and are also used as HIV management strategies where they choose to have one partner whom they decide to leave after a year or more of staying together.
On the other hand, the study states that the tendency of tenants marrying for convenience not only predisposes them to HIV but also affects the overall gain from tobacco.
Institutions like the Centre for Social Concern (CfSC) have for years been pushing for the passing of the Tenancy Labour Bill which is apparently designed to alleviate the inconsistencies in the tobacco sector.
But government and some other stakeholders have been reluctant in so far as passing the bill into law is concerned, opting rather for the Employment Act which they argue will address tenancy labour problems.
Early last year, Ministry of Labour Public Relations Officer (PRO), Symon Mvundula, said plans were at an advanced stage to abolish tenancy labour even though CfSC warned government to tread carefully on the decision.
CfSC said the abolishment of tenancy labour had to be gradual so that thousands of tenants and their families who are in the estates should have proper exit strategies.
On Thursday, Ministry of Labour Principal Secretary, Patrick Kabambe, reiterated government’s earlier position that tenancy labour should be abolished.
He said most of the problems which tenants face are due to the current system where they get paid after the sales have been made.
Kabambe, however, indicated that the abolishment of tenancy labour could be made through the creation of a clause or clauses tackling the matter, in the Employment Act.
“We are discussing with the Ministry of Justice on how best we can handle the issue of tenancy labour. Soon, a bill that will handle tenancy issues will be tabled in Parliament.
“We don’t want people to be paid at the end of the year when they work almost on a daily basis. They should be under normal employment,” said Kabambe.
Observers say the complete abolishment of tenancy labour is likely to face resistance from lawmakers themselves, some of who reportedly have estates and capitalise on a weak tenancy system to exploit their labourers.
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