Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe on Friday blamed
sanctions by Western countries for his government’s failure to pay its workers
on time, which led to a crippling strike by civil servants this week. “We have
problems with sanctions, the United States is yet to remove them and the EU has
removed some of them,”
Mugabe said while addressing his ZANU-PF party supporters
Friday evening at a stadium in the northeastern mining town of Bindura in a
rally televised live on national television. “They (workers) do not fully
understand the problems that we face, it doesn’t mean that we are poor but the
payment of salaries can be delayed because of the sanctions.” The 92-year-old
leader vowed to find ways of paying government workers on time saying the current
problems are temporary. “We are solving the problem. We are saying these are
troubles for these days only.
It will not continue like this because we do not want the
doctors, nurses and teachers to go on strike,” he said. “We use the US
dollar,the dollar is printed in America and we don’t print it on our own.”
Mugabe has blamed sanctions by the European Union and the
United States for his government failure to deliver over the years, saying some
government payments are being intercepted by Western countries. Government
workers in Zimbabwe went on strike Tuesday to protest against delayed salary
payments amid growing tensions over the country’s struggling economy. – Cash
shortages – Mugabe said cash shortages at banks are being caused by businesses
and individuals who are not banking their money, resulting in the liquidity
crunch.
“Some companies and our people who would have sold goods and
got their money are withholding the money. They are not depositing the money to
the banks,” he said. “Now when banks do not have money how can the workers be
paid because the money in the banks is the one that government uses to pay its
workers.” He appealed to government workers to continue working even when their
salaries are delayed. “We are not saying we will not pay your salaries but we
are saying the government has a lot of government departments. But some of you
do not understand that,” he said. “I am happy to hear that some have returned
to work.”
On Friday a Zimbabwe magistrate court granted bail to 104
people who are facing charges of public violence after protests on Monday by
public transport drivers who were striking against police corruption, the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said.
About 94 protesters were arrested on Wednesday after
government workers went on strike. Zimbabwe police reacted in both protests by
beating up people and firing teargas to disperse protesters. Zimbabwe is currently facing a liquidity crunch with banks
facing cash shortages while the government has been failing to pay its workers
on time.
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