text: Zimbabwe fires striking civil servants . Emelia Sithole HARARE 1996-08-24 The Zimbabwean government fired thousands of workers on Saturday for defying an order to end a strike which has crippled essential services and disrupted international and domestic flights . The Public Service Commission ( PSC ) said in a statement that the workers -- including nurses , junior doctors , mortuary attendants , customs officers and firefighters -- would be barred from entering their workplaces on Monday . " All civil servants who did not return to work at their normal working hours , and remained working for the full working day on 23 August 1996 , have been summarily dismissed ... with immediate effect , " it said in a statement . Union officials from the Public Service Association ( PSA ) were unavailable for comment . Public Service , Labour and Social Welfare Minister Florence Chitauro told state radio her ministry had already begun recruiting other people to replace the strikers , sub-contracting some of the work to private firms . The government had been threatening to fire the workers since the strike began on Tuesday , saying it was illegal . But the strikers ignored the threat and vowed to stay on the streets until their demands for wage rises of 30 to 60 percent were met . The stoppage has left essential services stretched with many hospitals handling only emergency cases under senior doctors with the help of army medical personnel and the Red Cross . It has also disrupted flights . Some internal services were cancelled , leaving tourists at the Victoria Falls resort stranded , and flights abroad were delayed . The PSA said 80 percent of the country 's 180,000 civil servants took part in the strike which is a rare challenge to President Robert Mugabe , who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980 . Opposition parties , civic organisations and private-sector unions have expressed support for the action and denounced the government 's pay rises of up to eight percent for its workers . Civil servants earn on average Z$ 1,000 ( $ 100 ) a month . They say their pay has not kept up at all with inflation , currently running at 22 percent .