Workers in the banking sector have notified the police that they intend to hold a demonstration on Thursday this week against the austerity measures being pushed by Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube.
Zimbabwe Banks and Allied Workers Union (ZIBAWU) national organising secretary Tirivanhu Marimo wrote a letter to the officer commanding Harare Central police station on Friday, in which he said:
Workers in the financial services sector have been at the receiving end due to unfavourable policies by the responsible minister.
The austerity measures and introduction of SI 142/19 have brought immeasurable suffering to workers and the generality of the public.
… Workers’ income has been eroded by over 2 000 per cent yet the incomes have remained stagnant and, in the process, pauperised finance sector workers.
Workers across the board have been demanding better salaries after 3-digit inflation wiped out their purchasing power.
The health sector has been paralysed by a doctors’ strike which started on September 3, and with the government firing over 400 of the striking doctors, there seems to be no end to the citizens’ suffering.