MDC say over 50 arrested in stayaway crackdown

By Lance Guma
16 April 2008

Over 50 opposition supporters have been arrested in a clampdown by security forces, targeting those who participated in Tuesday’s stayaway. Although police have only confirmed the arrest of 30 opposition activists the MDC insists the figure is much higher, with suggestions that over 100 might have been picked up countrywide. According to MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa most of those arrested are MDC staff members and include a recently elected member of parliament.

The MDC called for a stayaway Tuesday to press for the release of presidential election results.

Former student leader Marvellous Khumalo who won the St Mary’s constituency, Director of Information Luke Tamborinyoka, administrators Kudakwashe Matibiri and Fortune Goveya are some of those being held at Harare Central police station. Police claim those arrested barricaded streets and stoned buses that were transporting workers in the morning.

With 80 percent unemployment and most people self-employed, the response to the stayaway was low key. There were however enough incidents to suggest a restive population. Angry youths in Harare threw a burning tyre into a bus, setting it alight, while others clashed with soldiers and police in the early hours of the morning. The situation was calm late in the afternoon and most shops and businesses made the decision to open at that time. Chamisa says they have received several reports that companies who took heed of the stayaway are being victimised by state security agents.

He noted a high number of soldiers deployed around the suburbs with police almost, ‘invisible.’ He accused the soldiers of haphazardly beating up residents, in a clear attempt at intimidation.