Correspondent|A HANDFUL of teachers under the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) found the Ministry of Finance doors locked when they picketed at the government offices intending to hand over their petition to Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube on Thursday afternoon.

The teachers are demanding that their salaries be paid in US dollars, and that the 2018 bonus to be paid in full. They also want Treasury to abandon of the 2% transaction tax.

Since they started marching from Mutare towards Harare, the teachers have been arrested twice with the state refusing the prosecute them on both occasions.

The Finance Minister has defended the 2% tax. Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday while responding to several concerns from MDC backbenchers, the Treausry chief said Government would ring-fence $310 million from the 2 percent Intermediated Money Transfer Tax so that it would support devolution and social services such as education and health.

“We are taking money from people and giving it back to them by catering for devolution. We have allocated $310 million and distribution to provinces and districts will be determined by the population and sizes among other fundamentals,” said Prof Ncube.