Jane Mlambo| Zimbabwe’s workers body the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union has lashed at government for ignoring their call to dump its widely unpopular austerity measures saying the situation on the ground leaves workers with no option except to protest.

In a story carried in the weekly The Standard, ZCTU leader Peter Mutasa said government did not take heed to their call to do away with austerity measures which have been responsible for the suffering of the masses as prices of basic commodities have gone up by close to 700 percent.

“Workers and trade unions have tried to make government understand the folly of continuing in this direction of austerity measures, but this has been met with scorn and brutality, and as a result workers have no other option than to stop working and to protest until government is ready to listen,” he said.