Unions plan mass protests in Zim today

HARARE – Mass protests are planned across Zimbabwe today, in the first test of strength among opponents of President Robert Mugabe since a bitter split in the ranks of the Movement for Democratic Change.

Leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) insist they are ready to defy tough security laws and government threats with a series of marches throughout the southern African country. “We are more than ready to go, whether the government likes it or not,” ZCTU general secretary Wellington Chibebe, told AFP.”The fact that the government is jittery to the extent of marshalling soldiers and the police is a sign of victory for the workers.”The day of action, code-named Operation Tatambura (We are starving), is the first mass anti-government protest since the main opposition MDC split over leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s decision to boycott senate polls last November.Protests by the ZCTU, formerly led by Tsvangirai, threatened to bring Zimbabwe to its knees in the late 1990s as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets.However the opposition’s heyday has long since passed amid mutual recriminations and Tsvangirai himself has not endorsed Wednesday’s protest.A spokesman for his faction of the MDC said that while it sympathised with the ZCTU, it was planning its own protests.”We sympathise with the workers as we support all democratic efforts to realise a new Zimbabwe and a better life for all,” faction spokesman Neslon Chamisa told AFP.”We are part of the ZCTU but we are organising our own protests which will involve more people.”Chibebe declined to give a projection on the expected size of the protest on Wednesday, saying only that “we are expecting a big turnout both from our members and our sympathisers”.The extent of the divisions in the opposition were highlighted earlier this year when the lawmaker Trudy Stevenson, a member of an MDC splinter group, was badly beaten in an attack blamed on militant supporters of Tsvangirai.Attempts at forging a united front against Mugabe, in power for the last 26 years, have been exacerbated by the security forces’ determination to invoke the public order act which prohibits political rallies without police approval.Scores of activists who responded to a similar protest call by the ZCTU in November last year were intercepted by truncheon-wielding anti-riot police and detained at Harare’s main police station.State security minister Didymus Mutasa warned that the security forces were on high alert to break up today’s marches.”The various arms of the state responsible for security are ready for them,” he told state media.”The action we are going to take depends on the kind of demonstrations they embark on.”Nampa-AFP”We are more than ready to go, whether the government likes it or not,” ZCTU general secretary Wellington Chibebe, told AFP.”The fact that the government is jittery to the extent of marshalling soldiers and the police is a sign of victory for the workers.”The day of action, code-named Operation Tatambura (We are starving), is the first mass anti-government protest since the main opposition MDC split over leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s decision to boycott senate polls last November.Protests by the ZCTU, formerly led by Tsvangirai, threatened to bring Zimbabwe to its knees in the late 1990s as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets.However the opposition’s heyday has long since passed amid mutual recriminations and Tsvangirai himself has not endorsed Wednesday’s protest.A spokesman for his faction of the MDC said that while it sympathised with the ZCTU, it was planning its own protests.”We sympathise with the workers as we support all democratic efforts to realise a new Zimbabwe and a better life for all,” faction spokesman Neslon Chamisa told AFP.”We are part of the ZCTU but we are organising our own protests which will involve more people.”Chibebe declined to give a projection on the expected size of the protest on Wednesday, saying only that “we are expecting a big turnout both from our members and our sympathisers”.The extent of the divisions in the opposition were highlighted earlier this year when the lawmaker Trudy Stevenson, a member of an MDC splinter group, was badly beaten in an attack blamed on militant supporters of Tsvangirai.Attempts at forging a united front against Mugabe, in power for the last 26 years, have been exacerbated by the security forces’ determination to invoke the public order act which prohibits political rallies without police approval.Scores of activists who responded to a similar protest call by the ZCTU in November last year were intercepted by truncheon-wielding anti-riot police and detained at Harare’s main police station.State security minister Didymus Mutasa warned that the security forces were on high alert to break up today’s marches.”The various arms of the state responsible for security are ready for them,” he told state media.”The action we are going to take depends on the kind of demonstrations they embark on.”Nampa-AFP