ZIMBABWE: The anti-government coalition in Zimbabwe has vowed to press ahead with today's work "stayaway", despite police threats to crack down heavily on people who become involved in the protest.
The nationwide job stayaway, scheduled for today and tomorrow, is being organised to protest against the continuing destruction of shacks and illegal structures by the police and army, an undertaking which has left hundreds of thousands of people homeless and more than 20,000 people arrested.
Lovemore Madhuku, a spokesperson for the coalition, continued to criticise the crackdown in urban areas, saying the Zanu- PF-led government had "continued to inflict misery on the people through economic mismanagement".
Today's stayaway is being co-ordinated by the Broad Alliance, which includes the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, the trade union movement and other civic organisations.
Since the announcement of the action last weekend, tensions across the country have risen dramatically, leading to a large increase in the presence of police and army units in the capital Harare, as well as other urban centres.
In a statement released yesterday, police said they would "deal severely" with anyone who participated in the strike action.
President Robert Mugabe's government has claimed the campaign is designed to clean up the urban areas and crack down on a flourishing black market. However the MDC believes the ruling party is trying to disperse urban voters - who predominately vote MDC - into the rural areas where they will be harder to organise against the government.
However, since the beginning of the campaign, a large number of people have remained in the urban areas, despite the destruction of their homes. Others have gone to stay with relatives, while some of the most vulnerable have ended up at holding camps.
Fr William Guri, a Redemptionist priest based in Harare, is the only person to date to have accessed the holding camp on an old farm at Tafara, about 40 km outside Harare.
He told The Irish Times that for more than a week, government forces had been bringing people to the farm and that there were about 200 people there who had nowhere else to go. He added that more people were being interned daily.
"They have nothing: no food, no shelter or anywhere to go, and their health is worsening daily because of exposure and a poor diet. I'd say around 50 of the people there are street people who lived in Harare city centre, while the rest are from informal settlements around the city.
"The NGOs [ non governmental organisations] that went there initially to try and help were chased away, but I have been able to bring in some food because I befriended the guards."
Fr Guri said the farm was surrounded by a high fence and patrolled by 10 armed guards who supported the government campaign in full and had been told to keep away the NGO representatives and members of the press.
"The people have very mixed feelings. A lot of them have accepted their fate on the surface but, underneath, they are very angry. I'd say about half them are street people from Harare and, while they are not in immediate danger, their health is deteriorating everyday.
"Some of the older people aren't holding up so well. The Red Cross was allowed to dig two latrine pits, but the place is infested with mosquitoes and ants. The people are being told they are being kept there while an alternative settlement is being found for them. I think they will be there a long time though," he maintained.
Fr Guri added that the campaign was continuing to cause havoc in his district, with the Mabvuku township being the latest urban area targeted by the police and army. He insisted that if the evictions continued, he would not be able to give help to the numbers that would need it.
"We cannot support them for much longer, as I'm running out of resources, but these people are going to be there a long time. When you go into the camp, the people are just sitting around idle. The kids are playing but the adults look really distressed."