Police in the Zimbabwe capital Harare on Friday arrested around 30 people, most of them opposition supporters, on the third day of a nationwide strike against fuel prices.
Most shops in Harare’s central business district remained closed, but some small businesses were open. Banks were closed, and hundreds of people queued outside to withdraw money from automatic teller machines.
A military helicopter hovered overhead while riot police patrolled the streets. Even shops in the upmarket Borrowdale shopping centre in northern Harare, which caters for wealthy customers, were closed.
But in smaller towns around Zimbabwe the majority of businesses were open, the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition reported. The rights group said that in the central towns of Chegutu, Kadoma and Chinhoyi most businesses ”were operating as normal”.
Police raided the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) headquarters in central Harare and arrested around 30 people, most of them party supporters, a lawyer said.
While the strike was called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and not the MDC, the opposition party has backed the action and promised more of its own. It is not yet clear what charges the arrested MDC supporters will face.
”They have not been formally charged,” said lawyer Romualdo Mavedzenge. He said that those who were not party supporters would probably be released. Police were looking for ”subversive materials and arms of war”.
Earlier this week police arrested around 45 MDC supporters mourning the death of a party activist who was allegedly fatally assaulted by police.
The ZCTU, the country’s largest union representing some 250 000 workers, called a strike beginning Wednesday over last week’s tripling of petrol prices. ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo has hinted the strike could continue into next week if the government refuses to reverse the increase.
The labour body said the fuel price hikes meant that urban workers, who are already battling food shortages and inflation of 228%, would have to spend most of their salaries on transport to and from work.
On Friday a resident in the eastern city of Mutare said that the centre was ”empty” and half the shops closed. But in the southern city of Bulawayo, business ”seems to have been busier than yesterday”, a resident said.
In an apparent bid to placate workers, the government announced salary increases aimed at cushioning the blow of the fuel price hikes for workers. The state-run Herald newspaper reported on Friday that monthly wages of agricultural workers have more than tripled, rising to 23 070 Zimbabwe dollars ($28).
Previously farmers paid their workers wages of between 4 300 (five dollars) and 7 500 Zimbabwe dollars (nine dollars), a farming official said. The government also significantly increased the wages of workers in horticulture, industry and commerce.
Speaking at a state funeral Friday a subdued Mugabe claimed there were forces in Zimbabwe intent on dividing the country. The Zimbabwean leader said ”our enemies today seek desperately to divide and weaken us and to plunge this country back into the dungeon of colonialism and imperialism.”
He did not specifically mention the strike. The first two days of the ZCTU-called strike were widely followed, with the union claiming that 90% of the country’s 600 000 labour force stayed at home.
The government has disputed the figure, saying most shops and businesses have stayed open. Information Minister Jonathan Moyo threatened that criminal proceedings would be taken against employers that have ”illegally locked out workers”, the Herald reported.
The private Daily News claimed that soldiers and police had forced shops to open on Thursday in the southern city of Masvingo. This month’s strike follows a two-day stayaway called by the MDC last month. – Sapa-AFP