Apr 3, 2007, 16:11 GMT
Harare/Johannesburg - A call by the main unions body for a two-day work stayaway in Zimbabwe to protest the country's economic crisis appeared to have gone largely ignored in many parts of the country Tuesday.
It was business as usual on streets of Harare and in the industrial area of Graniteside. Buses ran as normal and there were long queues at the main railway station, prompting state media to claim most people had ignored the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions' (ZCTU) stayaway call.
Reacting to the low participation, an official in ZCTU's information department claimed that shop owners in Harare were forced to open their businesses or face unspecified action.
Industrial areas of the capital had a 'very low turnout of staff' and in some areas, like the eastern city of Mutare. the strike was 'successful,' the official said.
'Workers on farms also heeded the call for a stayaway and this indicates a major score for farmworkers because most now work for the new farmers in the form of government officials,' said the ZCTU official. Those claims could not be immediately verified.
Police dotted the streets of the central business district in Harare following warnings by police that they would be on 'high alert' for any possible 'intimidation' of workers or 'hooliganism.'
A police spokesman said four people had been arrested for stoning commuter buses and that the situation was 'very calm.'
Zimbabwean union officials had hoped workers would heed the call to strike over the government's failure to act to halt the country's runaway inflation of 1,730 per cent and unemployment of around 80 per cent.
But many Zimbabweans are engaged in the non-unionized informal sector, meaning a loss of earnings in the event of a work stoppage.
Meanwhile President Robert Mugabe has left Zimbabwe on a 'personal visit' to Asia, state radio announced.
The 83-year-old leader, who last week received the backing of his ZANU-PF party to seek reelection in 2008, had holidayed in the Far East in January and February.
The reason for his visit was unknown but officially unconfirmed media reports in Germany said recently Mugabe's stepson was being treated for the symptoms of HIV/AIDS in an Asian country.
In South Africa, meanwhile, a crowd of about 300 people marched on the Zimbabwean consulate in central Johannesburg under the banner of the Congress of South African Trade Unions to show their solidarity with Zimbabwean workers.
The demonstrators handed over a memo demanding an end 'to barbaric repression by the Zimbabwe Republic security forces.'
Meanwhile South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been appointed the point man of the regional Southern African Development Community on Zimbabwe, said he would have to 'move quickly' to resolve tensions in the country.
'We have to move quickly to ensure than an agreement is reached between the ruling party and opposition parties and all other parties concerned' on the holding of 'free and fair' elections in 2008, he said Tuesday.
Earlier he told a British newspaper he believed Mugabe would peacefully relinquish power in the future.
Speaking in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, he replied 'I think so. Yes, sure,' when asked about the likelihood of the 83-year-old leader stepping down.
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