PRESS STATEMENT BY ZCTU PRESIDENT PETER GIFT MUTASA ON WAGES AND PRICES ISSUED AT A PRESS CONFERENCE ON 19 JUNE 2020, ZCTU OFFICES, GORLON HOUSE, HARARE
Members of the Fourth Estate, I welcome you to this Press briefing which is specifically on the issues of wages and salaries and the escalating prices of goods and services. Let me start by giving thanks to the Almighty God for keeping us safe in this difficult time when we are facing the deadly COVID-19 virus. We give him all the glory and reverence.
If you remember, before the outbreak of COVID-19, we had an unfinished business of fighting for a reasonable living minimum wage. In particular, the ZCTU was calling for the return of the use of the United States dollar as a mode of payment for wages and salaries. We argued that the country was not ready to have its own currency because the economic fundamentals were not in place. We even proposed another alternative of using the South African Rand. Unfortunately we were labelled ‘unpatriotic’ by the pro-establishment.
It is not that we do not love our country, but we were being realistic. Today everyone is crying as inflation takes a bite on incomes. The ZWL$2 500 minimum wage gazetted by the government has become useless overnight as inflation soars to over 850%. During the lockdown period, prices of goods and services have risen by over 500% while the Poverty Datum Line is way above ZWL$8 000 and changing every minute. In any case, most goods and services now require payment in United States dollar. A bucket of maize now averages US$6. Even those services that are pegged in the local currency, they are all benchmarked to the US$. We said we were chasing a mirage and there was need to go back to the use of US$, but we were ridiculed.
Some might argued that the country has no capacity to pay a living wage and more so in US$. Zimbabwe is endowed with so much sufficient resources if only we curb the high level corruption that has been the major cause of our misery. You have seen for yourself how the COVID-19 has been used to loot funds from donors. It is just a tip of the iceberg. Minerals are being looted left right and center everyday and if we curb this corruption scourge, we would be able to meet the basic needs of our people.
Even farmers have not been spared. In fact, there is daylight robbery going on. Tobacco farmers buy their inputs using foreign currency and sale their crops in foreign currency. They do not get all their earnings in foreign currency. When they deposit the little US$ they get into their Nostro accounts, they are paid using the fixed official rate of US$1:ZWL$25 yet the rate out there is over US$1:ZWL$70.
During the TNF meetings, the government pleaded with social partners to give them six months to put the economy back on track. They claimed they would be able to stabilise the currency in six months. They literary refused to adopt the Rand and the US$ in the name of ‘sovereignty’. You can all now see where we are now!
Everyone is crying, from the civil servant, the student to the informal worker. The center cannot hold anymore. We are now facing the precipice. Workers have been pushed too far and they cannot take it anymore.
As you are aware, before the onset of COVID-19, the ZCTU had mobilised workers to take action against not only poor wages but also the high cost of living. The mandate was given by workers during the consultation process in the form of labour forums that took place throughout the country. We had put the action plan on halt due the Corona pandemic and also to give dialogue a chance. It looks like we are going nowhere and we today are advising the government that we have been left with no option than to exercise our constitutional right to protest.
We are therefore calling on all Zimbabweans who have Zimbabwe at heart to join the ZCTU as we mount a peaceful push for a better Zimbabwe. However, we can not mobilize on the basis of sectors. No more informal – formal divide, no more urban – rural divide, no east, west, south and north divide only the poor and oppressed collectively waging a struggle for a fair share of the cake. We are all scavenging for food and starving. So, what is the basis of the division? We need a united front from students, residents, peasant farmers and civic society. The nurses have already shown the way and we must support them. We salute the heroic and united position adopted by health service workers who are fighting for better salaries. For too long the government has been reneging on its promises to improve the welfare of health workers. They are front line workers in the fight against Corona virus.
We also salute the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) for declaring that from Monday 22 June teachers will be embarking on action to press for US$ salaries. It is our collective struggle; everyone is suffering and must collectively contribute. We know we will be met with brutal force and there is a possibility that some people might be killed, tortured, abducted and brutalised. This is the price some of us a prepared to pay. We must all mount a serious collective and prolonged protest until we get a better Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans are dying silently during this lockdown period due to hunger and starvation. The ZWL$200 per household promised by the government during this lockdown has not reached them despite it being too little. No one will fight for us but ourselves. As workers, it is our belief that we have a Constitutional right to go and fill the streets and I am inviting all Zimbabweans to this worthy struggle. It will be tough, but be assured victory is certain if we are united and determined.
GOD BLESS WORKERS OF ZIMBABWE
I THANK YOU!
