ZIMRA workers consider going on strike over salaries eroded by inflation

Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) workers have declared that they are incapacitated to continue working citing that their salaries have been eroded by inflation and they cannot afford basic human needs like shelter, transport and food.

With elections due to be held in August this year, Zimbabwe is currently crippled by an economic crisis that has seen inflation go through the roof.

The local currency which forms salaries of the most civil servants is falling everyday against the US dollar.

In a letter dated 24 May, ZIMRA workers through their union, Zimbabwe Revenue and Allied Workers Trade Union (ZIMRATU), stated that they are no longer able to afford basic goods and services.

“Reference is made to the above subject matter and an instruction from your workers to inform their employer that they are now incapacitated to afford the basic human needs like shelter, transport, food inter alia: following a massive wave of price/exchange rate movements,” read part of the letter directed to ZIMRA Commissioner General.

“Failure to meet these basic human needs incapacitates a person from fully engaging in activities that do not fully support their endeavors to lead a decent life.”

This comes at a time when prices of basic commodities are skyrocketing with the market seemingly rejecting the Zimbabwean dollar.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya is adamant that the country will continue to use the Zimbabwean dollar regardless of it facing backlash from the market.

“But we can’t dollarise, we cannot be competitive in a dollarised environment, we need to look at the national interests; this economy cannot sustain dollarisation, we have limited forex; we leave from hand to mouth (in terms of forex),” he said.

“We cannot sustain dollarisation, the rate at which US dollars go out is faster than the rate at which US dollars come in. If we dollarise aggregate demand will fall and companies will scale down and jobs will be lost.”