The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has pleaded with President Emmerson Mnangagwa to convene a Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) meeting as a matter of urgency.
In a letter dated May 29 and addressed to Mnangagwa by ZCTU president Peter Mutasa, the labour body warned that the nation is on edge as a result of the economic hardships being experienced by the masses. He wrote:
Your Excellency, the situation on the ground is volatile and the nation is on the edge. Your intervention in this matter is urgently sought.
Your Excellency, the rising inflation and prices have had a devastating impact on ordinary citizens incomes for those lucky enough to be in work or to have a pension, (which has been) miserably eroded, condemning many into abject poverty.
Their predicament is worsened by the fact that most people do not have access to foreign exchange, while service providers are demanding payment in hard currency.
All of this leaves most people unable to pay for critical services, be it education, housing, healthcare or transport.
ZCTU is credited with calling for a stay away in January over a government decision to hike the price of fuel by over 150 per cent.
The stay away however degenerated into violence and looting as citizens vented out their anger and frustration, with the ZCTU leaders arrested and charged with treason.