The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) pledged its support for the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions’ (ZCTU) planned mass protests in that country on Wednesday.
Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said the ZCTU wanted to ”show government and employers that workers have gone this far with their suffering and cannot go any further”.
According to the ZCTU, 80% of Zimbabweans live in poverty because they receive meagre salaries.
Craven said Cosatu supported the ZCTU’s demands which include the reduction of income tax to a 30% minimum.
The federation also demands that workers earning below the poverty datum line not be taxed, the prices of basic commodities to be stabilised, and free access to antiretroviral drugs.
Workers at previous ZCTU protests were arrested and assaulted, the ZCTU said. It hoped that demonstrations on Wednesday would be peaceful.
”The protests will start at 12pm and end at 2pm tomorrow [Wednesday],” said
Craven. – Sapa