Continued support for national strike

Trade union officials on Thursday said up to 70 percent of the country's businesses remained closed on the second day of a three-day national strike. "Banks, stores and factories across the country have continued to heed the call to shut down. This is a promising sign that the strike has achieved what it set out to do. We expect that the success of this action will increase the pressure on the government to make some significant changes," the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) secretary-general, Wellington Chibebe, told IRIN. ZCTU called the stayaway in protest over a 200 percent hike in fuel prices introduced last week, which increased urban commuter bus fares. The ZCTU argued that workers would now have to spend about 60 percent of their monthly wages on transport. Chibebe said although no incidents of violence had been reported, there had been a number of cases where police had forced shop owners to open their businesses. "While some shop owners were coerced into opening their stores, many found that they had to do without their staff who decided to stay at home. In Mashonaland West there were reported cases of labourers being frog-marched to work," he added. In terms of the country's security laws the strike is regarded as illegal by the authorities. The official Herald newspaper on Thursday said the stayaway was ill-timed as "government was in the process of coming up with new commuter fares and new minimum wages" to cushion workers from the effects of the fuel price hike. According to the newspaper, the government and urban transport operators on Tuesday agreed on new fares. But Chibebe dismissed the report, saying: "The government has had more than enough time to implement new fares and introduce an increased minimum wage. It is mischievous to portray the labour movement as an accomplice in the deterioration of the economy when we have called on the government on several occasions to address hyper-inflation." Meanwhile, Transport Minister Witness Mangwende threatened to withdraw the permits of minibus operators if they continued to "refuse to provide normal services to the public". Last month, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change staged a two-day strike that shut down about 80 percent of businesses and industries in one of the biggest protests seen in Zimbabwe. The opposition group called on the government to restore the rule of law and agree to hold new elections.