Tensions mount as Zim public workers threaten to join strike

ZIMBABWE’S public sector workers will join a growing strike if the government does not agree to pay them in US dollars, the main civil service union said yesterday.

Doctors and some teachers have already staged walk-outs, saying they need the hard cash payments to protect them against inflation and a currency crunch – piling pressure on Emmerson Mnangagwa less than five months into his contested presidency.

The Apex Council, representing 16 public sector unions, said it gave the government the required two-week notice of industrial action on Tuesday.

“If they do not pay us in US dollars or an equivalent, we are going on a fully fledged strike,” Apex deputy chairperson Thomas Muzondo said.

Cash shortages have plunged Zimbabwe’s financial system into disarray, threatening social unrest and undermining Mnangagwa’s efforts to win back foreign investors sidelined under his predecessor Robert Mugabe.

With not enough hard currency to back up funds showing in bank accounts, the value of electronic money has plummeted, prompting businesses and civil servants to demand payment in US dollars they can withdraw.

Vincent Hungwe, the chairperson of the Public Service Commission that employs civil servants, said the government planned to meet unions and make an offer by today. Late on Tuesday, he said the state would expand cost-of-living payments and propose a new pension scheme.

Any move to compensate workers by increasing wages would scupper

government plans to cut the fiscal deficit by more than half to 5 percent of GDP this year and bring down the wage bill to 70 percent of the budget from more than 90 percent previously.

Reducing that wage bill is one of the main demands of the International Monetary Fund, which has urged the government to channel more money to infrastructure development and health. The government employs more than 300 000 workers and spends $300 million (R4.18 billion) on salaries every month. | Reuters