THE security sector is on high alert, amid fears among
authorities of crippling mass protests by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) — over the country’s deteriorating economic situation, the Daily News
reports.
This comes as
workers are struggling to make ends meet due to the ever rising local inflation
and prices of basic consumer goods.
It also comes after
health workers announced a strike last week, which left many of the country’s
hospitals in dire straits — while the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Association of
Zimbabwe (Artuz) also staged demonstrations in Masvingo yesterday over poor
salaries.
ZCTU president Peter
Mutasa told the Daily News yesterday that the government’s deployment of
soldiers and police in residential areas and the country’s streets, over fears
for the planned strike, would not help to solve Zimbabwe’s myriad crises.
“We are mobilising the workers. Actually, the workers are
being mobilised by the material conditions in the country.
“Instead of sending heavily-armed police and soldiers, the
government should better address the workers’ concerns.
“People are hungry. Deploying the army and police in our
view exacerbates the situation, because eventually people will go out to look
for food. People are desperate, and they are working for nothing,” Mutasa said.
“We are prepared for a long, protracted struggle. What we
are demanding is a peaceful demonstration.
“The people must be very peaceful. We must be wary of
people who join us and seek to cause violence. Our resistance must be peaceful
and avoid provocateurs.
“Apartheid in South Africa was not dismantled in one day.
Even the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe was prolonged,” Mutasa added.
“We have already been told, me and the secretary-general,
that we are in trouble because of our press conference.
“We were told that the press conference was a declaration
of war and that we had crossed the red line. What can we do? We can only depend
on God for our protection,” he said further.
Meanwhile, Artuz secretary-general Robson Chere confirmed
yesterday that their members had started demonstrations in Masvingo, where four
of their members were later arrested.
“What we want to send is a message to the employer. If we
don’t do this we are going to die of hunger.
“It is better that we face the consequences after we would
have sent a message to the employer. There are risks associated with this but
we have to send the message,” Chere said.
Among the four Artuz
members who were arrested yesterday is the organisation’s Masvingo provincial
secretary for gender and welfare, Sheila Chirisamhuru. “The arrested are currently detained at Chikato Police
Station facing charges of participating in an illegal demonstration.
“We take the arrest as a direct attack on the workers who
were exercising their constitutional rights in demanding a living wage.
“The protests will continue in every province in the
country until the employer pays us US$520 a month as our salary,” Artuz said.
On his part, police
spokesperson Paul Nyathi said their heightened presence in communities was
being necessitated by the national Covid-19 lockdown, which was put in place by
the government to curb the spread of the virus.
“Remember the country is on national lockdown level two,
which means that there are certain movements which are restricted. “The deployments of members of the security sector will
continue as we will be assessing the situation regularly.
“As you can see, the number of Covid-19 cases is increasing
and others are escaping from quarantine centres,” Nyathi said.
Political analyst Rashweat Mukundu said yesterday that the
government was at sixes and sevens as far as the economic and political
situation in the country was concerned.
“The ED government has no solution to this economic and
political crisis and will resort to its default position which is violence and
threats.
“Apart from the fact that the Political Actors Dialogue
(Polad) has failed to stabilise our politics, other platforms such as the
Tripartite Negotiating Forum that brings government, labour and business have
equally been ignored by the government.
“Essentially we are dealing with a political leadership
that looks at every challenge as a nail that needs a hammer,” Mukundu said. Daily
News
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