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Zimbabwe warns unions ahead of planned protests
Reuters
September 10, 2006

http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=15109

Harare - Zimbabwe authorities said on Sunday security agents were on high alert and ready to crush planned anti-government protests by the main labour union, which vowed to press ahead this week with demonstrations. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says it plans countrywide demonstrations on Wednesday to protest against poor wages and workers' lack of access to anti-retroviral drugs to fight HIV/AIDS, which kills an estimated 3,000 people each week. This comes as Zimbabwe battles its worst economic crisis in two decades of independence, marked by years of foreign exchange, fuel and food shortages. "The various arms of the State responsible for security are ready for them," Security Minister Didymus Mutasa was quoted as saying by the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper. "...They should not blame us because they are provoking us as well as the country's wrath," added Mutasa.

But ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe vowed the protests would go ahead and accused Mutasa of trying to intimidate workers. He said the labour body had notified police around the country on the demonstrations, contrary to comments by chief police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena who told the Sunday Mail that the ZCTU had not sought permission for the protests. "The protests are going ahead as announced and this will be countrywide," Chibebe told Reuters. "Trade unions are exempted from notifying the police when protesting but we did this out of courtesy knowing how our government reacts," he added.

President Robert Mugabe's government has kept opponents of his 26-year-old rule in check through tough policing and security laws barring protests without approval. ZCTU says workers need a minimum salary of about Z$90,000 per average family per month and would want the government to reduce income tax to 30 percent from 35 percent. Protracted wage negotiations have so far failed, with employers insisting they cannot afford the pay demands, as the majority of them already operate below 30 percent of production. The ZCTU is an ally of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has threatened similar nationwide protests at an unspecified date. Mugabe, 82, denies responsibility for Zimbabwe's woes and says his local opponents are being manipulated by Western powers he accuses of sabotaging the economy as punishment for his seizure of white-owned farms for blacks.

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