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Strikes 'part of MDC plot'
01/06/2007 13:32 - (SA)
Harare - President Robert Mugabe has urged
Zimbabwe's security forces to remain on high alert to thwart
attempts to topple his government by the opposition and his
Western foes, official media reported on Friday.
Mugabe, who in recent months has stepped up warnings against
public protests amid an escalating economic crisis, told a
ceremony for graduating police officers that threatened strikes
and job stayaways were part of a plot by the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) to sow political turmoil.
"Our security forces have heightened their vigilance in
order to thwart the subversive manoeuvres of those who engage in
crimes of political violence," Mugabe was quoted by the official
Herald newspaper as saying at Thursday's event.
"I wish to call upon people of Zimbabwe to unite against the
shameless British arm-twisting tactics being orchestrated
through the MDC and the so-called civil groups," Mugabe said.
Mugabe, in power for the last 27 years, is widely accused of
running down a once prosperous economy through controversial
policies such as seizing white-owned farms for blacks, which has
decimated commercial agriculture.
But Mugabe charges that former colonial power Britain has
mobilised its Western allies to sabotage the economy as
punishment for the seizures.
The government has of late arrested dozens of MDC activists
on links to recent petrol bombings of police, government and
ruling Zanu-PF targets as part of a "terrorist campaign" being
funded by the West.
Western governments, which have isolated Mugabe and imposed
targeted financial and travel sanctions on his top leadership,
accuse the 83-year-old leader of human rights abuses and
repression against opponents.
The MDC denies the charges of violence and say Mugabe has
heightened a crackdown against the opposition ahead of next
year's presidential and parliamentary elections.
Zimbabwe's junior doctors were on Friday expected to start a
job boycott to press for higher salaries while the main labour
federation, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union, has threatened
a work stay-away next month, the second this year, to protest
poor working conditions.
"We cannot allow those who plot our ruin to determine the
destiny of our people. Never ever. Moreover, we will never allow
let alone succumb to the call for job stayaways and wild cat
strikes," Mugabe said.
Zimbabwe's economic crisis is marked by the world's highest
inflation rate above 3 700%. Four in five people are
without jobs and struggling to feed their families.
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