The General Council of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has called on all Zimbabweans to remove their cash from banks on Wednesday, 3 December. Union heads, leading a march, will present a petition that same day to Gideon Gono, the Governor of Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank, which the International Monetary Fund says is bankrupt.

In Zimbabwe, the government imposed a low cash withdrawal limit, and Wednesday’s action by the ZCTU in six regions is expected to challenge that authority. The daily withdrawal limit from automatic tellers is now Z$500, equivalent to R1 South African, or €.08. Gono said in a state-run newspaper recently that the low limits will reduce long queues outside banks.

The labour protest is meant not only as a stand against a clamp on banking, but it is against a number of larger issues, including Mugabe dictates giving preferential treatment to some shop owners to trade in foreign currencies. The masses in Zimbabweans are excluded from such shops, and regardless, they have little currency and no means to buy food, medicine, or the necessities of basic life, even if those essentials were on Zimbabwe’s shelves.

The ZCTU clearly made that point in making its “cash availability” announcement following its General Council meeting in Masvingo on 25 November. The union federation estimated that thousands of Zimbabweans have died in recent months simply from inability to buy available medicines.

The ICEM extends support to the ZCTU for its heroic efforts aimed at improving life and bringing dignity to the people of Zimbabwe.