SW Radio Africa (London)
Henry Makiwa
30 November 2007
There was a "million-man" march to show support for Robert Mugabe as the ruling party's presidential candidate in Harare on Friday.
But there were scenes of violence in Highfield, Glen View, Budiriro, Mufakose and Glen Norah townships, where workers who had queued for transport into the city were forced onto trucks by Zanu PF thugs, to attend Mugabe's Zimbabwe Grounds rally.
Witnesses said thousands of Harare residents were also disrupted from doing their normal daily business, after Mugabe's largely bused-in thugs went on a rampage Friday morning. Residents of Highfield Township, where Mugabe was holding a rally on Friday afternoon, said spates of violence began on Wednesday when Zanu PF youths began beating up any person wearing red. Red has a historical and symbolic representation of the opposition MDC.
Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa said police and soldiers simply watched or assisted the ruling party's militia as it terrorized the people.
He said: "Many people, including members of the independent media, have been arrested and beaten up and lost possessions, for no apparent reason today. Hundreds have been forced to leave their homes and work to take part in an exercise they do not believe in. Politicians and analysts are questioning the sincerity of Mugabe in the current mediation talks with the opposition when he keeps bludgeoning the opposition," Muchemwa reported.
The developments reinforced the lack of neutrality of the law enforcement agents.
Men and women jogged for miles to Zimbabwe Grounds - a sports arena in Highfield township - where Mugabe addressed them. Mugabe is said to have approved the march to re-create scenes of his 1980 moment of glory at the same venue, when he returned to Zimbabwe from exile soon after the end of the liberation war.
State run television said the "million-man march," was the "apex of other provincial solidarity marches previously held as the support for President Mugabe gathers momentum."
The march comes at a time when the country is facing a myriad of economic problems created by poor governance - issues the government should address before pouring scarce resources into Mugabe's campaign exercise.
Observers condemned the partisan march for emptying the already dry national coffers, at the expense of the taxpayer. A report by the weekly Zimbabwe Independent claimed that the National Railways of Zimbabwe, on Thursday suspended the movement of goods trains, which ferry coal from Hwange to various centres, as well as grain to the southern parts of the country. According to the report this was to create free passage for trains expected to move Mugabe's supporters to Harare. It is also understood that locomotives for goods trains have been diverted to haul passenger train coaches.
Over 150 buses from the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company were also taken over for the use of Zanu PF supporters, a development that created a major shortage of public transport
Mugabe,who is fighting growing internal opposition to his rule, organised the march with the help of war veterans Jabulani Sibanda and Joseph Chinotimba, to beat off critics ahead of an extra-ordinary Zanu PF congress in early December.
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