ZCTU plans national shutdown protests

THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is planning demonstrations to protest against the current economic meltdown, in a bid to pile pressure on government to resuscitate the economy.

ZCTU's general secretary, Japhet Moyo, told The Financial Gazette that the union's general council, which is the supreme decision making authority in between congresses, resolved recently to organise demonstration against alleged mismanagement of the country's economy which threatens to lurch the country into an economic crisis.

"Emanating from our policy workshop which resolved that the union should coordinate a massive response to the failure by government to arrest the economic meltdown, we have started mobilising our structures and associates ahead of the mass action," he said.

He said that the mobilisation process was targeted at workers, community groups, students, traders and like-minded organisations driven by the common understanding that our challenges are emanating from bad governance.

"We are pushing for the immediate dissolution of government and setting up of a transitional authority to manage the affairs of the country and make necessary reforms to stabilise the economy before elections," he said.

In a statement, the ZCTU said the cost of living had become so high that many people were now living in abject poverty. It said prices of basic commodities were skyrocketing, and that there was lack of confidence in bond notes, a currency introduced by government last year to mitigate a cash crisis.

The ZCTU said the current inflationary crisis, triggered by increased money printing by government, had adverse effects on incomes as it had already started eroding workers' earnings and savings.

As a result of large amounts of money pumped into the economy through money printing using the real time gross settlement (RTGS) platform, as well as bond notes which have no backing from foreign currency earnings, retailers have adopted a three-tier pricing system under which purchases made through bank transfers or bank cards attract a premium, with sales done using US dollar cash getting discounts.

Purchases made through bond notes are attracting a lower premium than payments made through bank cards or bank transfers.

"The three tier pricing system is exposing the public which has been condemned to use the devalued bond note. With most retailers seemingly unwilling to readily accept the use of plastic money, we are slowly being driven towards barter trading as ordinary citizens do not have access to the hard currencies," said the statement.

It added that there was no secret that investor confidence, which had been cultivated by an inclusive government formed in 2009 but dismantled in 2013 after a ZANU-PF landslide victory, had been lost.

The statement warned that the country was quickly deteriorating to crisis levels reached in 2008, which forced government to ditch the local currency for a multiple currency regime.