MDC national strike to go ahead Tuesday

By Lance Guma
14 April 2008

As the stalemate over presidential election results entered its 16th day MDC structures around the country were busy mobilising their members for a series of national strikes that begin Tuesday. In Bulawayo our correspondent Lionel Saungweme says MDC youths have been distributing fliers about the strike action.

One flier reads; ‘Zimbabweans have been taken for granted for too long, we demand presidential results be announced now.’ Another states that Tsvangirai had won the election with 50,3 percent of the vote and there was no need for a run-off, while one was targeted at the business community who were urged to lend their support for the strike. The fliers all urge Zimbabweans to stay home until the results have been announced.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa confirmed the party was going ahead with their strike plans and that this was the resolution of the party’s National Executive last week Thursday. He said the ‘stayaway’ was going to be indefinite and assessments were going to be made on a day-to-day basis.

Asked whether they had the support of the business community, Chamisa said they hoped this was the case but that they also appreciated the victimisation that most companies were subjected to every time there was a stayaway. Chamisa said; ‘This is the beginning, even if it does not succeed, we have to start somewhere.’

The National Constitutional Assembly said they were behind the MDC action because it was important to withdraw labour that fuels the Mugabe regime. NCA spokesperson Tapera Kapuya said: “This is a non-violent strategy of protesting the delay in announcing results.” Kapuya expressed concern at the fact that the ballot papers are more than likely being tampered with while in the hands of the ruling party.