The Zimbabwean government is set to hold crucial negotiations with the country’s public sector to avert a national strike that is feared could spark more unrest after violent protests earlier this month.
The main teachers union has however said it was not expecting any progress, and has already laid out plans for a walkout on February 5.
A spokesman of the president said troops would stay on the streets and that the state would shut down the country’s internet if violence erupted again.
Zimbabwe’s teachers and other civil servants are demanding pay rises and also to have their salaries paid in dollars due to the country’s currency crisis.
Zimbabwe is facing spiraling inflation and an economic crisis that has starved the market of cash supplies, fuel and medicines.
Rights group say at least 12 people were killed in the violent protests earlier this month, sparked by an increase in fuel prices. The government however says only three people lost their lives.
“Today is the last meeting but we have already made a decision. We are talking to our constituency because we want this strike to have an impact,” Thomas Muzondo, the deputy president of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) said.
The president’s spokesman however urged the groups to give the government time to sort the issues.
“There are key bread and butter questions which government cannot dodge, things are tough,” George Charamba told a state-owned Harare radio station.
“But it would be a sad day to think that the only way that we can remedy such a problem is by causing further damage to that already damaged economy through mayhem, through looting, through chaos.”
