Zimbabwe’s largest trade union has called for national protests this Thursday, as the country’s economic crisis worsens, but police said they would halt any demonstrations in Harare due to a cholera outbreak.
According to the Zimbabwe Congress Trade Union (ZCTU), the strike was triggered by sharp price hikes, a new tax on electronic transactions and daily shortages ranging from fuel to drugs.
“We are going to approach the courts. We do not think the police have a legal basis (for any ban),” ZCTU president Peter Mutasa said on Tuesday.
“They are just trying to intimidate people into not joining the march,” he said, adding he would still call for a national shutdown.
Zimbabwe’s poor state of economy has hit new lows in recent days with shortages in shops and prices of goods such as cooking oil rising rapidly due to panic buying and long queues outside petrol stations.
The local “bond note” currency, which in theory has the same value as the US dollar, has been in freefall in recent weeks, raising fears of a return to the hyper-inflation that wrecked national finances in 2009.
Zimbabwe has additionally announced job cuts for civil servants as part of reforms to cut expenditure.
Public gatherings have been disallowed in Harare since last month to tackle the cholera outbreak that has claimed at least 49 lives. Authorities have said the disease is now under control.
-AFP