1st LD Writethru: Roundup: Business subdued in Zimbabwe's major cities in rare massive strike over a decade

Business activity was severely subdued in Zimbabwe's capital Harare and other major cities on Wednesday after a social media-organized movement successfully persuaded many urban Zimbabweans to stay at home to protest against the country's economic decay.

Wednesday's mass action, a rare scene in more than a decade, coincided with the second day of the job strike by teachers, nurses and doctors over pay delays and two days after a violent clash between police and mini-bus drivers protesting administrative harassment in Harare.

The strike appeared to be initiated by online messages trending on social media #Thisflag and #ShutDownZimbabwe 2016 urging people not to heed calls of a "stayaway". Some other messages went further to warn 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 or due to fear of possible violence, most shops, restaurants and business offices were closed in the capital while banks and government departments were among the few open.

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.

Skirmishes broke out between police and residents in a few high density suburbs of the city. In Mufakose, to the west of the capital, residents burnt tyres and barricaded roads using cement blocks and rocks.

National Police Spokesperson Charity Charamba said about 40 people were arrested for disturbing the peace, including a Belgian tourist among others held in the resort town of Victoria Falls for staging "unlawful demonstrations".

Charamba, however, said the military was not called in to quell the protests.

"The situation has not deteriorated to warrant the presence of the military," she said.

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.

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

Zimbabwe last witnessed a mass stayaway of this magnitude between late 1990s and early 2000s, starting 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.

In the years to follow, strikes were often called upon to protest rising prices of food and fuel but few heeded the calls in the years after 2004. Strikes were rare in more than a decade.

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.

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.

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".

The country's largest mobile network Econet also confirmed that WhatsApp was down in the morning but would also not give reasons.

"Econet would like to confirm that WhatsApp is currently down. We will notify you once it is working again," the private company said in response to queries by local blog Techzim.

#Thisflag, the campaign that led to Wednesday's stayaway, first appeared on WhatsApp in April by local pastor Mawarire to protest against corruption, injustice and poverty. It has gained thousands of followers over the past two months. The surging support emboldened Mawarire to organize such a stayaway in exchange for the government, under veteran President Robert Mugabe, to fire corrupt ministers, abandon radical economic policies, among other demands.

"We are not playing and we ask you to take us seriously," Mawarire wrote in his facebook page.

Charamba, on the other hand, said the police are urging members of the public to ignore social media messages inciting people to engage in violent activities. The authorities have previously denied a popular social media message saying a curfew was imposed on the eve of the strike. Endit