Zimbabwean civil servants march in capital as pay strike enters 3rd week

Zimbabwean civil servants march in capital

HARARE, Zimbabwe — More than 2,000 civil servants marched in Zimbabwe’s capital to demand a nearly four-fold raise.

March leader Tendai Chikoore said Friday that workers want their monthly salary raised to $630 from $160. They presented petitions at parliament and at the ministries of finance and public service.

He says workers have refused the $15 bonus that the government offered and that the two-week-long strike will continue until they get their pay raises.

Chikoore says the strike is not politically motivated.

Many blame Zimbabwe’s economic collapse on President Robert Mugabe’s land reforms in 2000, in which thousands of productive, white-owned commercial farms were seized. Mugabe blames Western sanctions for Zimbabwe’s economic collapse.