The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has chided the government for the heavy deployment of soldiers and police in residential areas and the country’s streets, saying the move will solve the country’s problems.
ZCTU president Peter Mutasa on Monday told the Daily News that deploying security forces will only worsen the situation as people will eventually go out looking for food. Said Mutasa:
We are mobilising the workers. Actually, the workers are being mobilised by the material conditions in the country.
We are prepared for a long, protracted struggle. What we are demanding is a peaceful demonstration.
The people must be very peaceful. We must be wary of people who join us and seek to cause violence. Our resistance must be peaceful and avoid provocateurs.
Apartheid in South Africa was not dismantled in one day. Even the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe was prolonged.
Meanwhile, police in Masvingo on Monday arrested four Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) members after they had staged a demonstration earlier in the day.
