Tajamuka Calls for Mass Stay Away to Press Mugabe to Step Down
One of the Tajamuka-Sesijikile members, Hardlife Mudzingwa, said Zimbabweans should stage the peaceful stay away Wednesday dubbed “the mother of all protests”.
WASHINGTON DC — Members protest group Tajamuka-Sesijikile Campaign have urged Zimbabweans to boycott work Wedensday by staying at home to press President Robert Mugabe to step down for allegedly failing to properly run the country. This comes at a time when police in Harare on Monday arrested protesters outside a court demanding the immediate release of Tajamuka-Sesijikile leader Promise Mkwananzi and several other political activists accused of allegedly inciting violence. One of the Tajamuka-Sesijikile members, Hardlife Mudzingwa, told reporters in Harare that Zimbabweans should stage the peaceful stay away Wednesday dubbed “the mother of all protests”. Mudzingwa said indications are that President Mugabe won’t last up to end of next month as the country’s economy is fast declining, leaving millions of stranded people helpless as most industries in the country have shut down due to lack of lines of credit to sustain the production of various goods. Members of the protest group said they are not afraid of threats by some Zanu PF youth who have vowed to crush protestst in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF party indicated on Sunday that it will deploy its youth in the country’s streets to assist the police to crush any future anti-government protest. Deputy secretary of the Zanu PF Youth League, Kudzai Chipanga, told hundreds of youths at the party’s headquarters that they would not allow the Movment for Democratic Change formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai and other pro-democracy groups to stage any protests, saying only Zanu PF should be allowed to do what it wants at any time. “Now they are beating up the police, they are looting in shops and destroying valuable property. We are the ruling party and we can’t allow them to continue to do that nonsense. As the youth, be ready to deal with them when they call for protests, next time they call for any demonstration we will also be in the streets to help the police to arrest them. “You must therefore sleep with your cellphones under your pillows so that when you are called by the commissar you are in town quickly. The law provides for citizen arrests so don’t be afraid to deal with these malcontents. While they will be complaining about the situation in the country, we will taking all white-owned farms and distributing them among ourselves so that we can grow our crops and get some residential stands,” said Chipanga. In recent days, the opposition has escalated protests demanding President Robert Mugabe’s immediate resignation for failing to run the southern African nation. Meanwhile, several groups have urged the Southern African Development Community should intervene in Zimbabwe.