Zimbabwe: Stay away gets going

Press Statement
June 6, 2005

The Broad Alliance hereby confirms that it has called a 2 day nationwide Mass Stay Away from 9 to 10 June 2005. The Broad Alliance is a coalition of democratic forces who have decided to work together for the common goal of establishing a just, prosperous and democratic Zimbabwe.

Organisations in the Broad Alliance that have unanimously called for the Stay Away include:
1. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
2. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
3. National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)
4. Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
5. Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)

The purpose of the Stay Away is for Zimbabweans to protest against the senselessness and insensitivity of this government in that:
1. It has destroyed peoples' homes.
2. It has destroyed the livelihood of millions of innocent people in the informal sector.
3. It continues to inflict misery on the people through economic mismanagement, which has led to the shortage of food, shortage of fuel, unemployment, transport problems, shortage of water and housing problems.
4. It refuses to accede to the demand for a democratic, people-driven constitution and instead seeks to amend the constitution and impose a senate on the people through a ZANU PF dominated parliament.

All Zimbabweans are urged to participate in this action for national redemption. This is the beginning of a determined effort by the people of Zimbabwe to create a just, prosperous and democratic society.

Dr Lovemore Madhuku
NCA National Chairperson and Convenor, Broad Alliance

Additional Information:

Action
Please note that the stay away on Thursday and Friday is official - it has
the support of all major civic bodies in the country. They are calling for a
solid two-day stay away from work to protest in a manner that will not
expose people to the violence and intimidation of the Police and the Army.

Just stay at home - do your buying on Wednesday and then take a 4-day break.
Do not go out if you can avoid it as there may be trouble and the safest place for you is at home.

Please note that this is not the only action being taken - there are several
initiatives being run at the same time. Further action is planned for next
week and you will be informed of this as decisions are taken and the relevant information can be released to the public.

We are not prepared to take this nonsense anymore. The country is collapsing
and with it our companies and jobs are in serious jeopardy. The Police and
the Army are just as fed up but they want to see what you feel about this
situation. The Stay Away is your first shot at this. Lets act together as we
did before.

ZIMRIGHTS STATEMENT: RAIDS ON FLEA MARKETS UNJUSTIFIED

ZIMRIGHTS strongly condemns the wanton swoop and raids on flea markets
around Harare's Central Business District on the 18th and 19th of May
2005. The police raids have resulted in the loss of goods worth millions
of dollars and leaving a number of traders bruised and injured by
arbitrary beatings. Flea markets provide very useful affordable services
to Zimbabwean citizens especially those who can no longer afford formal
shops due to continued economic hardships.

The police raids on flea markets were nether neither forewarned nor
justified and have seen the plundering of millions of dollars worth of
goods. The move which has been conducted under the guise of 'cleaning up
the city" is unwarranted and tantamount to condemning citizens to
perpetual and abject poverty. Flea markets are the only source of
livelihood for many families hard hit by high levels of unemployment. The
informal sector has been the answer for many families who are trying to
earn a living through honest means and therefore raiding and confiscation
of goods is brutal and turning a blind eye to the current economic
realities.

We put to question the intentions of the police and the city fathers in
this politically charged atmosphere, as there is no justification to the
swoop on flea market operators. Attention should be paid to the current
human rights and humanitarian crisis which is characterised by: serious
food shortages, collapse of the public health delivery services, an
increase in HIV/AIDS cases, attacks on human rights defenders, repressive
legislation, denial of freedom of _expression and association.

NANGO STATEMENT

The National Association of NGOs [NANGO], representing NGOs operating in
the country, notes with great concern the severe impact that the current
Operations Restore Order and Operation Murambatsvina are having on family
livelihoods and on the welfare of the orphans and vulnerable children.

Although a detailed audit of the impact is not yet complete, indications
from Organisations working directly with those that have been affected
point to the significant entrenchment of an already dire urban poverty,
unemployment and human rights violations. Women, orphans and vulnerable
children are by far the most affected groups requiring urgent assistance
in the form of shelter, warmth, sanitary wear, food and medication.

Whilst acknowledging the need for a broad economic turnaround and the
efforts made so far towards the redress of the country's economic
position, NANGO insists that the Operations are incongruent with the
government's expressed commitments to the Informal Sector Economy and to
Orphans and Vulnerable Children. It is unfortunate that the coping
mechanisms and social safety nets that people have been building overtime,
at times with government support, are being decimated overnight.

By no means should the prerogative of fostering a clean environment be
allowed to override government's obligation to protect the interests of
the poor, the marginalized and the vulnerable. A more responsible course
of action should be put in place to deal with the crime and the dirt in
the city without prejudicing people's basic livelihoods.

As the population battles to meliorate the emerging humanitarian crisis
that has been predicated by the poor performance of the economy and the
looming drought, the call is for government to support rather than impede
its population in the struggles against poverty and unemployment. NANGO
thus calls upon government to increase its spending on social service
delivery, to support the informal economy and to focus more on putting in
place social protection programmes and mechanisms.

NANGO hereby calls upon government to stop the Operations immediately
until appropriate alternative mechanisms are put in place. NANGO is also
calling upon all NGOs to respond to the crisis by offering practical
humanitarian assistance to those affected.

ZIMRIGHTS therefore calls for the immediate stop of police raids and that
all confiscated goods be returned to their rightful owners.

An anonymous account of recent police action in Zimbabwe

Family and friends, thank you for your telephone calls, your e-mails and all your support and encouragement in these dreadful days and hours - it is a great help.

The international press says that the police are destroying "illegal structures" in Zimbabwe. Let me share with you a little of what is very legal but has been destroyed. In 1992 many thousands of people were put into a holding camp at a place called Hatcliffe Extension. They were not allowed to build permanent structures because this was going to be temporary. In 1995 one of our student Sisters, Tarisai Zata, who was a student at the School of Social Work and was doing some studies for her degree, one evening she came back home and said "we must do something to help these people to live like human beings" and that was the beginning of the Dominican Missionary Sisters involvement in Hatcliffe. We have worked with the people there for the past ten years, people of all religions and none, people of all political persuasions and none. Over the years through the generosity of you all we were able to sink eight boreholes, help to feed thousands of people, build and run a cr¶che for AIDS orphans (180) of them. We visited once a week and two of our nursing Sisters, Gaudiosa and Carina treated people, helped to get about 100 people on to an anti-retroviral medicine programmers, etc, do home based care, took people to hospitals, etc. The people of Hatchliffe have become friends and family of us the Dominican Sisters. Yes, some people had moved in illegally, but the majority were there because they were put there and were repeatedly told that they would be moved to a better place at some time, most of them paid their monthly "rent" for their little square patch.

On Friday morning last week I got a call that the riot police had come into a section of the area and demolished everything - most of the wooden shacks are just broken to pieces. I went out on Friday and Saturday - people were sleeping out in the open, many of them sick, cold and hungry. On Saturday I visited again. Some had managed to leave (those who have Z$500 000 - and have some relatives in "legal" places". On Sunday morning I got a call that the police had given instructions that all structures in the original section have to be demolished within 24 hours, including the cr¶che, clinic and other structures which we had built with and for the people. Where do I get people on Sunday to come and dismantle all the buildings? I decided to wait until Monday. On Sunday evening I received one phone call after another saying "come quick They are going to kill us" - others would say "don't come you might be killed".

Early on Monday morning I drove out to Hatcliffe, already in the distance I could only see smoke rising up - nothing else. I arrived, I wept, Sister Carina was with me, she wept, the people tried to console us - they were ALL outside in the midst of their broken houses, furniture and goods all over the place, children screaming, sick people in agony. Some of the people who are on ARV drugs came to us and said we are phoning Sister Gaudiosa (Sister is doing the ARV programme) but she is not answering us, we are going to die". We explained that Sister was on home leave but that we would help in whatever way we could. It was a heartbreaking situation. The structures mentioned above that we the |Dominican Sisters were working from were left untouched but had to be dismantled immediately otherwise they too would be destroyed. Sister Balbina from the House of Adoration came With carpenters and other staff members and started dismantling the structures. We are distributing all of them to people who have nothing, they will be OK if we leave them lying on the ground. Some friends arranged for a crane to come in to lift out two containers where we had medicine and food stored - it was one of the saddest days of my life.

How does one say that Peter aged 10 and his little brother (John) aged 4 (not their real names) are "illegal". We had provided them with a wooden hut when their Mother was dying, she has died in the meantime, these two little people had their little home destroyed in the middle of the night, we get there, they are sitting crying in the rubbish (that was their home until Sunday) - what do we do with them? they are only one example of the many vulnerable orphans whose little lives are destroyed. Veronica (not her real name) is an elderly widow who is chronically ill herself, she has 3 young grandchildren from her dead daughter - her home is destroyed. She is wearing a Rosary Beads around her neck, an apron with the picture of the Sacred Heart and a tee shirt with President Mugabe's photo - she has tried all means to survive! Some people came and said, "Sister there are two people who are dying please come." One of them Mary (not her real name) who is out in the open all night lying on an old damp mattress can't move with pain, she has shingles, which is open and bleeding, what is worse her tears or her bleeding wounds? I felt/feel paralyzed. Anne (not her real name) delivered a baby a week ago, she is Critically ill and is on the verge of death, what do we do with her? We give her pain killers, we give her blankets, we give her food (which she in unable to eat) - what is going to happen to her baby?

Some of you have asked if I am safe, don't worry we are well "protected" by the riot police who are cruising around this disaster area all day, I was so relieved to see them eating sugar cane which means that they are not hungry and will have the strength to "protect us", I don't for a minute believe that they accepted this sugar cane from "illegal people" on an "illegal settlement". A Grandmother asks, "Sister why has God abandoned us? I do not try to answer. people call out "Sisters pray for us". An emergency taxi (mini bus) stands in the middle of this "war zone" with the words "God is Faithful" written on it! Just now we are going back there with food, clothing, medicine and cash, we can only try. I am NOT cold, I am NOT hungry but I am very ANGRY. I pray that this will pass. We stand in shock and cry with the people but we also have to try to keep them alive. When will sanity prevail. Where is the outside world? Busy talking about a "NO vote by France". How can the "little ones of this world be brutalized in this way" - Their only crime - they are poor, they are helpless and they happen to live In the wrong part of town and in a country that does not have oil and is not very important to the West. One bystander told me that he had phoned the Red Cross asking for help but was informed "it is not a war situation" so there is nothing we can do!

PRAY FOR US. God bless and reward you for your concern.