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/MAY DAY/ZIMBABWE: Political Crisis Deepens
By Sam Khumalo
HARARE, Apr 24 (IPS) - -The political crisis in Zimbabwe has deepened as the
main
trade union, The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), defied
threats by President Robert Mugabe's government and engaged in a
three day stayaway whose first day has been heeded by workers.
Even the arrests of eight union leaders in the central city of Gweru and
the second city of Bulawayo about 450 kilometers west of the capital
Harare did not intimidate the workers into submission.
ZCTU secretary general, Wellington Chibhebhe, on Monday said the
arrests of Percy Mcijo, Mandlenkosi Sibanda and Rensen Ngwenya in
Bulawayo on the eve of the first day of the protest would not deter
the workers' resolve to protest against the fuel increases announced
by the government last week.
The Union called for the strike after the government ignored its demands
to reverse the fuel
increases. The price of leaded and unleaded petrol shot up by 320 and 350
percent respectively, and diesel by 70 percent. ''We know they will arrest
us but we are not worried since we are fighting for a genuine cause,''
Chibhebhe told Zimbabwe's leading independent news
paper, The Daily News on Monday.
Realizing that the workers have heeded the call, the Minister of
Transport and Communication,
Witness Mangwende, Wednesday threatened to withdraw the permits of commuter
transport for failing to ferry commuters to work. But Collin Gwiyo,
the ZCTU vice secretary general, said his organisation will continue with
the protest until the demands are met.
"We condemn the arrests of managers by the police. We also condemn
the forcing of managers to call workers for duty," he said. According to
Gwiyo two managers working for a private bank were arrested for refusing
bring their workers for duty.
The strike by the union comes hardly a month after a similar call last
month by the main opposition party the MDC against Mugabe's repressive rule.
The opposition and other civic groups have
supported the strike. The MDC said it was still organising another protest
to force Mugabe to restore the rule of law in the country and to desist from
human rights abuses against its supporters.
Meanwhile on Tuesday business ground to a halt in all the major cities in
the
country. In Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare and Masvingo all businesses were
at a standstill and most commuter buses stayed off the road.
No incidents of violence were reported so far, however eight ZCTU
members in Gweru and four in Bulawayo were arrested on the first day
of the stayaway. In Harare Joseph Chinotimba, the vice president of
the pro-Mugabe Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions, accompanied by a
group of youths and policemen, forced a clothing shop in Harare to
open and arrested the owner, Mick Davies.
Army armoured vehicles were parked Harare's western suburb of Warren
Park while helicopters flew over some areas of the capital monitoring the
situation which was largely peaceful. Armed police and soldiers protected
government-owned Zupco buses in apparent fear of being attacked.
Some shops and banks in Bulawayo opened in the morning but shut towards
midday. Most shops in the high density and industrial areas were closed.
Some government-controlled banks, including the People's Own Savings
Bank and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe did not open. The shortage of
fuel also appeared to have worsened the situation as hundreds of cars
queued at service stations.
In the eastern city of Mutare all major industries, businesses and
financial institutions were closed while a few small businesses owned by
Zanu PF activists were open. There was
heavy police presence. Armed soldiers were deployed in all the
residential suburbs of Southern Zimbabwe's Masvingo town. Most shops were
closed but some banks and supermarkets were open after being allegedly
ordered to do so by the police.
The police, army and the Central Intelligence Organisation manned road
blocks on all roads leading into the city. More than 200 MDC supporters and
legislators were arrested and allegedly tortured while in police custody
last month following the strike by the opposition
party. (ENDS/IPS/AF/SA/IP/SK/SM/03)
= 04241253 ORP007
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(END/2003)
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