Roundup: Zimbabwe second mass strike call fails as organizer arrested

Schools opened, commuter omnibuses plied their routes and it was business as usual in Zimbabwe's most cities as a two-day job boycott called for by protester Evan Mawarire through social media failed to materialize.

Workers did not heed the call for the strike last Wednesday's action which left most of the country paralyzed as workers and school pupils stayed at home to protest against deteriorating living conditions and perceived corruption in government.

A Harare worker who declined to be named for fear of possible reprisals said the call for another job action had come too soon after last week's.

"Strikes take their toll on people and we should have breathing space so that we do not continue to lose money. Also, some of our children are writing mid-year examinations and I don't think it's proper to disturb them again like we did last week," he said.

Mawarire, who was arrested Tuesday and charged with inciting public violence and disturbing the peace, was due to appear in court later on Wednesday.

About 300 hundred people, most of them draped in the Zimbabwe flag, converged at the Harare Magistrate's Court to show solidarity with Mawarire, while a number of police in riot gear stood watch.

Among the demands of the organization and at least two others are that President Robert Mugabe should fire corrupt ministers, police roadblocks should be minimized on the roads, civil servants paid on time and that the government should lift import restrictions recently imposed on some goods.

It also does not want the government to circulate bond notes which will be valued at par with the U.S. dollar predominantly being used in the country.

The bond notes are due to be introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in October, but many people fear that this is a backdoor reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar which became moribund in 2009 with the last official inflation figures pegged at about 231 million percent.

The government suspects a foreign hand in the staging of last week's demonstration and has vowed to deal with anyone found to have broken the law. Endit