Roundup: Business subdued in Zimbabwe's capital as peaceful strike underway

Business activity was severely subdued in the capital Harare on Wednesday after a social movement called #This Flag called on residents to stay at home to protest against economic decay.

The mass action, a rare scene in 20 years, coincided with the second day of the job strike by teachers, nurses and doctors who are demanding their June salaries which the cash-strapped government has delayed to July 7 and 14 respectively.

This followed messages on social media for days urging people not to report for work or send their children to school as they risked having their cars and household properties burnt.

While it was not immediately clear whether people had stayed away in response to the call by the social movement or due to fear of possible violence.

Zimbabwe's economy slipped into near stagnation in 2016, suffering from low export income, liquidity crunch, and a ever tightening government budget.

The authorities have resorted to rein in capital flows, impose cash withdraw limits, restrict importation of basic goods, and delay payments to civil servants including teachers, security personnel, and government workers.

On Wednesday, most businesses in the national capital Harare were closed including major retail shops and business offices while banks and government departments were among the few open, a snap survey by Xinhua revealed.

Most commuter omnibus operators were not plying their routes, a situation that left many commuters stranded while there were fewer people than usual in the central business district.

There were reports of some skirmishes between police and residents in some high density suburbs of the city.

There was no activity at public schools as teachers continued with their strike while limited staff and medical students manned government hospitals.

Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers president Denford Mutashu said most retail supermarkets including OK Zimbabwe, Spar and Pick n Pay were open and did not heed the stay away call.

"Most of the retail shops opened and those that did not, it's not because they heeded to the stay away call but were afraid of possible violence that might occur," he said.

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce chief executive Takunda Mugaga echoed similar sentiments by Mutashu, saying most of their members in the retail sector were open.

"We are yet to know if our members were open but those in the retail sector were open such as OK Zimbabwe," he said.

Zimbabwe last witnessed a mass stay away of this magnitude in 1997 when the then Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions secretary general Morgan Tsvangirai organized a two-day nationwide job stay-away against high government taxes.

Tension built up in the southern African country over the past few days as Zimbabweans were angered by a series of radical government policies to pump up the country's ailing economy, worsened by a severe drought and weak global demand for raw materials.

Last Friday, protesters rioted at the Beitbridge Border Post protesting against a government decision to ban importation of basic goods, most of which come via South Africa, resulting in a warehouse belonging to state revenue agency being burnt down.

Three days later, a protest by taxi drivers against police harassment in Harare turned violent, resulting in the police firing tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters.

Police say they have since arrested 95 people in connection with the violence.

Following the nurses and doctors strike, the Ministry of Health has appealed for army nurses, doctors and laboratory scientists to assist.

"Assistance is required from the defense forces to augment coverage for emergency services especially in central hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo," the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health Gerald Gwinji said in a letter to the Defense Forces Commander Constantine Chiwenga.

State news agency New Ziana reported that there was mixed reaction to the call for mass action in the towns Masvingo and Gweru, with most workers staying away from work while the majority of big businesses, including chain stores, banks and government departments opened and operated as normal.

However, most workers in Masvingo did not turn up for work while in Gweru the turn up was high, it said.

The government had Tuesday urged people to disregard the stay away call.

For hours on Wednesday morning, there was disruption in internet services which affected communication through social networking sites such as WatsApp and Facebook.

This came after the telecommunications regulator POTRAZ issued a warning to the public against abuse of social media and telecommunications services to spread "messages that may be deemed to cause despondency, incite violence, threaten citizens and cause unrest".

Meanwhile, police said they had deployed adequate manpower to deal with people that might want to cause violence. Endit