Zimbabwe general strike has limited success

A two-day general strike called to protest a government crackdown on the urban poor began slowly today with a heavy police presence on the streets of Harare.

A broad alliance of civic society groups, churches, opposition parties, unions and a women’s group called for the general strike today and tomorrow to protest what the government calls a campaign to improve the cities, but which the UN says has left at least 200,000 urban poor homeless and more than 30,000 under arrest.

Police have warned for days that they will “deal ruthlessly” with anyone participating in the strike.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions said three of its employees in Bulawayo were arrested at their homes before dawn today for allegedly organising the strike.

The stay-away appeared to be starting slowly. Main roads were only slightly less busy this morning as people reported to work. There also were major traffic jams in downtown Harare after police sealed off a huge area ahead of President Robert Mugabe’s appearance to open parliament.

Trudy Stevenson, an opposition member of parliament, said police began rounding up residents of one Harare township this morning.

“Police are now in Hatcliffe … rounding everyone up and piling them onto lorries. Their belongings are being put on separate lorries, so they fear they will lose everything,” Stevenson said.

“They are not being told where they are being taken, but they have the impression it is far away and they might be kept in a holding camp under guard,” she added.

Opposition politicians and civic society groups accuse the government of burning or demolishing the homes of urban poor to punish them for voting for the opposition.

They also allege the government is trying force people to leave the cities, which are opposition strongholds, and return to ruling party controlled rural areas so that they can be more tightly controlled politically.

The government said the crackdown was a campaign to clean up cities and stop street traders, which it calls economic saboteurs. The UN has accused the government of gross human rights abuses with the campaign.

Six Roman Catholic bishops issued a statement today condemning the crackdown known as Operation Murambatsvina, which means ‘drive out trash’.

“A grave crime has been committed against poor and helpless people. We warn the perpetrators … history will hold you individually accountable,” the bishops said in the statement.

The Protestant Evangelical Christian Fellowship also condemned the crackdown, saying police were “wantonly destroying property” and giving no consideration to vulnerable children, disabled or HIV positive people.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party urged the people to take part in the strike.

“We call upon all the people of Zimbabwe to organise themselves and protest against the actions of … this criminal regime,” the party said.

Economists, however, said it would be difficult to make a general strike effective because only about 800,000 of Zimbabwe’s 12 million people had jobs in the formal sector.

More than four million people had emigrated and 500,000 had lost their jobs during five years of unprecedented economic decline.