Mugabe opponents admit strike failure

[struggle4progress]

Jeevan Vasagar in Nairobi and agencies
Saturday June 11, 2005
The Guardian

<snip> Riot police fired tear gas at protesters in the Chitungwiza township south of the capital, Harare, according to one of the strike organisers.

Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the newly-formed pressure group the Broad Alliance, said many people were beaten by police officers, who also fired live ammunition over their heads. <snip>

"The leadership must just show they are not deterred," Mr Madhuku said. "We may have to push the government more and more to that corner of shooting people and then they must expose themselves to the whole world." <snip>

In a statement, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, which backed the strike, acknowledged it had attracted "a minimal response". Its sole success was the boycott by opposition MPs of the state opening of parliament on Thursday. <snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,2763,1504210,00.html


Leaders blamed for Zimbabwe strike flop
June 10 2005 at 05:13PM

Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition leaders have been accused of failing the people of Zimbabwe because of their obsession with wanting to "play it safe", a factor that largely caused the failure of Thursday's national strike.

The two-day strike called by an alliance of civic groups to protest against President Robert Mugabe's repression flopped because the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which commands the largest support base of any civic group, only joined it at the eleventh hour.

Leaders of other civic groups involved in organising the strike did not issue any public calls in support of the action for fear of being arrested and jailed. <snip>

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=84&art_id=vn20050610091948854C968720