POLICE have given the green light for government workers to
demonstrate for higher wages in what is seen as an acid test for President
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s tolerance to dissent.
The police nod for tomorrow’s demonstration came as the law
enforcement agents have this year banned anti-government protests by opposition
parties and civic groups, prompting fears that Zimbabwe was sliding into the
dark days of repression.
Police yesterday said they could stop the march if they
deemed it to be violent.
“The regulating authority still reserves the right to stop
the gathering should it turn out to a public order threat or violent. Police
will monitor,” Oscar Mugomeri, police
commander for Harare central district, wrote in the letter
to the organisers.
David Dzatsunga, the spokesperson of the Apex Council, the
umbrella body for civil servants labour unions, confirmed the development.
“Yes, the march has been cleared,” Dzatsunga said.
“The Apex Council and ordinary membership will participate
in the protest. The march will start from the Public Service Association at
10am to Kaguvi Building, where a petition will be handed over to the Minister
of Labour or whoever is representing her.”
The civil servants have been pleading poverty due to the
soaring prices of basic goods, fuel and electricity being charged using the
United States dollar as the reference point against the ever-plunging value of
the local currency to the greenback.
The Apex Council, made up of 14 public sector unions
excluding health workers and security services, has been pressuring government
for a salary valued along the US$ interbank rate, but government has flatly
refused.
Instead, government has been offering cushioning
allowances, hardly enough to match the skyrocketing prices of goods and
services.
This forced the government workers to declare
incapacitation last month while doctors downed tools over two months ago to try
to force their employer to adjust salaries, but nothing has changed for them,
with government trying hard to politicise the job action.
In a letter to Labour minister Sekai Nzenza, Apex Council
chair Cecilia Alexander last month said government workers would embark on a
march and hand over a petition to the former’s office.
But asked yesterday if they think the march would achieve
results since they will be submitting a petition to government raising issues
the employer already knows but has been unwilling to adjust, Dzatsunga said
they would push for a meeting tomorrow.
Mnangagwa is growingly under pressure from his workers.
The least paid earns about $1 023, equivalent to US$50 on
the parallel market, an amount hardly enough to sustain their well-being.
Teachers have declared incapacitation, with a few reporting
to work, while the majority who decided to stay at home are receiving threats.
Newsday
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