Bulawayo City Council workers yesterday downed tools, paralysing service delivery in the country’s second biggest city on the eve of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) starting this morning.
Over 700 municipality workers gathered at the city’s Revenue Hall for over eight hours yesterday demanding payment of their outstanding salaries for the past three months.
Addressing the strikers at the hall, Zimbabwe Urban Councils Workers’ Union (ZUCWU) secretary-general Moses Mahlangu said they would continue with their industrial action until they were paid.
“We want our salaries for the past three months,” Mahlangu said. “We will wait patiently for their response. It must be clear that we are not on strike. We have come for our pay because this is a pay point. Everywhere is closed today because we are here so now we should just wait for them to come and pay us.”
Mahlangu, whose address received thunderous applause, said ZUCWU had engaged with the town clerk, Middleton Nyoni, and arranged a meeting later in the day with the city fathers.
However, at the time of going to press, the meeting was still to take place. A snap survey by NewsDay revealed that municipal clinics like Pelandaba, Tshabalala and Nkulumane were closed due to the strike action.
Patients who spoke to NewsDay said the strike action had affected many people suffering critical illnesses.
The effect of the strike on essential services such as water supply and reticulation was not yet evident by close of day yesterday.
