ZCTU Demonstration Pushes Government To Act
A successful siege on banks held on Wednesday to protest against bank withdrawal limits has forced government to act.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) called for the demonstration to force the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to remove a cap on the cash withdrawals.
Central bank governor Gideon Gono was forced to call for a meeting with the ZCTU leadership after the brief siege on banks.
ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo said the labour body presented a petition to the central bank and demanded the removal of cash withdrawal limits and that Zimbabweans should be able to access their money from banks without any restrictions.
“Zimbabweans should be able to withdraw their cash on demand. There should be no cap on maximum withdrawals,” Matombo said.
During the meeting with the RBZ governor it emerged that the central bank was struggling to meet cash demands owing to break downs at the printing press.
The RBZ governor has since asked for a follow up meeting with the ZCTU leadership on Thursday to establish statistics on formerly employed workers and their average wages in order to determine total cash demand.
Gono is under immense pressure from different sectors of the economy and most of them have blamed his quasi-fiscal policies as a major driver of inflation which has now gone over 400 million percent.
Until Sunday, individuals and companies were only allowed maximum daily withdrawals of ZW$500 000 and $1 million, which is less than 1USD. The limits have since been increased to $100 million and $50 million per week for personal accounts and corporates effective from Thursday.
During Wednesday’s siege on banks, police in Harare had to maintain heavy presence in the streets following a brief clash with protesters in the morning.
ZCTU spokesperson Khumbulani Ndlovu said Wednesday’s arrests showed that government did not have plans to address the plight of workers.
“What happened on Wednesday is a show of no plans to address workers concerns and it is a show of double standards,” Ndlovu said.
At least 70 people were arrested country wide including the ZCTU Secretary General Wellington Chibebe and Raymond Manjongwe, the secretary general for the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe.
Chibebe was later released after the intervention of the central bank governor but others remained in custody.
A reporter with the Worker, a tabloid published by the ZCTU, Ben Madzimure. who was arrested while filming the protests was also in custody. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) crew was also briefly detained at the Harare Central police station for covering the demonstrations
(Source)
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