te with the government’s ongoing vendetta against honest people trying to eke out a living. The Mayor was given a deadline of one week to stop these activities or he would face a dose of ‘Tough Love’ from WOZA.
Most WOZA members are themselves informal traders and are no longer prepared to remain silent about the ongoing harassment. As one of the placards they were carrying read: ‘A child who remains silent on its mother’s back will die.’
Having marched peacefully from the Revenue Hall and Tower Block, the women sat outside the entrance to City Hall singing, “Ndabeni, please tell Chombo, Chihuri and Mathema that we want to be allowed to sell”, while their representatives went into the building to speak with the Mayor.
As the representatives walked to the Mayor’s office, they overheard a council official saying he was going to call the police and have the group arrested. Within minutes a police officer arrived, identifying himself as the ‘boss’ of a plain-clothes unit called PISI. When the Mayor came, he told the officer that these women were his ‘children’ coming to their father to make their grievances and refused to allow them to be arrested. He then proceeded to read the placards held by the women and answer them, with the officer in tow.
One of the placards he commented on read, “Maye babo! Ndabeni wasiyekela sisifa labantwabami sizancedwa ngubani?” (Oh dear, Ndabeni you have left us to die with our children – who is going to help us?) He asked, ‘who has killed you?’ and when the crowd replied that it was he, defended himself by saying, ‘I am the one helping you.’ In response to the placard about the child on its mother’s back being unable to cry out, the Mayor replied that he would free that baby.
Before the women dispersed, the police officer questioned one of them, asking about the leadership, WOZA’s offices and if they had a letter of authority to demonstrate. The member answered that she had the right to protest peacefully under the constitution, that WOZA’s office was in the ‘street’ and referred to the crowd as the bosses of the demonstration. Unimpressed, he threatened to take her into custody. There have been no reports of arrests to date and we expect that the Mayor’s word of caution to the officer sufficed to warn him off. Nonetheless, he was frustrated enough to order the dispersing women to pick up their placards left on the floor for the Mayor’s attention.
Meanwhile, 63 WOZA members arrested on Valentine’s Day appeared in court again this week charged under Section 7c of the Miscellaneous Offences Act – conduct likely to disturb the ordinary comfort of the public. The trial has yet again been postponed – this time to July 11, 2006. – Staff reporter
Party officials attacked by thugs
HARARE – Harare north MDC (pro-Senate) MP, Trudy Stevenson, and four other provincial executive members were severely assaulted and left for dead in Mabvuku on Sunday by a mob of about 40 youths, allegedly belonging to the anti-senate MDC.
Linos Mushonga, Simangele Manyere, Tawanda Udzerema and Lackson Mudachira were leaving the area, with Stevenson, when their vehicle was waylaid near Circle Cement.
“The thugs blocked the road and threw stones at their car, smashing the windscreen and windows. The mob pounced on the MDC officials and attacked them with an assortment of missiles, including stones, iron bars and sticks,” said Gabriel Chaibva, the faction’s secretary for Information and Publicity.
Tendai Biti, the secretary general of the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai, immediately condemned the perpetrators and said he hoped the police would take decisive action.
“The MDC has never believed in violence as a tool of expression or coercion. Since our inception seven years ago we have been known as a beacon of non-violence and democracy. We remain committed to our founding values of celebrating diversity, pluralism and peaceful coexistence,” said Biti.
He said any partner member found to be taking part in such an attack would be sacked from the party. “Those who are violent belong to Zanu (PF) and not to the MDC,” he added.
Police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena, told The Zimbabwean in a telephone interview on Monday, that he was not aware of any political disturbances in Mabvuku over the weekend.
But Chaibva said the victims were rushed to Avenues Clinic in a police truck. He said they had been stripped of their belongings by the thugs – including three cell phones valued at more than Z$600 million, more than $20 million in cash, two hand bags, two pairs of shoes and other important valuables including wedding rings.
According to Chaibva, Stevenson was hit with a machete on the back of her head and sustained a deep cut just above the neck and a broken wrist. Mushonga suffered two broken fingers, which doctors say may have to be amputated. Manyere was smashed with a stone, and suffered broken teeth and a swollen face. She sustained multiple lacerations on her face and head after she was kicked with booted feet and clinched fists by the thugs.
“We would like to put it on record that this is not the first time such violent acts have been committed by these thugs,” said Chaibva who named a number of people whom he alleged to be the perpetrators.
“The history of fighting can be traced back to 2001 at Harare Provincial Congress. Violent acts and intimidatory tactics were again employed in the May, 2006 Budiriro by-election. We call upon the police to leave no stone unturned and bring these barbarians and merchants of violence to book in the interest of justice,” said Chaibva. – Staff reporter
Msika condemns land grab
HARARE – Acting president Joseph Msika has for the first time admitted that land reform programme had largely benefited only President Robert Mugabe’s cronies, who were under-utilising precious commercial farming land and contributing to widespread hunger in the country.
Speaking while Mugabe was away at the African Union summit in Gambia, Msika condemned the way the land had been given “to anyone who wanted land”.
“We have not sat down to say, really, ‘Is this person to whom we’re giving land, is he having an aptitude for farming, is he a farmer? Is he going to develop the land?'” Msika said on national television.
He criticised those who had merely taken houses belonging to white farmers. “What they are doing is to go into the houses where whites were living and they want land, they just plough a small hectarage, and they are saying that’s enough,” he said. “We have taken this land, and are using it for political gains other than the development of the agricultural industry.”
Zimbabwe, once the region’s bread basket, is now a net importer of food, and heavily dependent upon western aid to feed more than half the population. – Staff reporter