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Index of articles on WOZA Valentine's Day arrests 2006
ZIMBABWE:
"Bread and Roses" protestors held
IRIN News
February 14, 2006
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51702
JOHANNESBURG
- More than 400 women have been arrested for protesting against
high prices and unemployment over the past two days in Zimbabwe,
after inflation shot past 600 percent.
Over 240 were arrested in the capital, Harare, on Tuesday for participating
in a march led by the activist organisation, Women
of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), held annually on St Valentine's Day.
The organisation's lawyer was also arrested when he intervened,
according to WOZA.
Another 181 participants of a WOZA-led march in Zimbabwe's second
city, Bulawayo, were arrested on Monday and remained in detention
overnight.
"This year's theme is bread and roses [inspired by the 'Bread and
Roses' strike by American women textile workers in 1912]," said
Jenni Williams, national coordinator of WOZA, who was among those
arrested on Monday. "The bread stands for the need for affordable
food, and the roses represent the need to be dignified and the call
for social justice."
Police have largely treated WOZA protests as illegal 'political'
gatherings. In two years of demonstrations, about 900 WOZA activists
have now been arrested for breaching the Public Order and Security
Act (POSA), which prohibits public gatherings without police clearance.
According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), a watchdog
body, the Central Statistical Office's latest consumer survey indicated
that the monthly cost of living, including non-food items, for a
family of five rocketed to more than Zim $21 million (about US $211)
in January, up from Zim $17.5 million (US $176) in December 2005.
The average monthly salary of a public servant is US $121, despite
a 231 percent increase in government salaries announced last month.
"The cost of accommodation, fuel and the hike in government salaries
announced last month have all impacted on the cost of living," said
CCZ's Henry Musongwe. The annual rate of inflation is now 613.2
percent, close to the all-time high of 622 percent reached in January
2004.
Basics like the cost of accommodation, commuting and school fees
can now set a family back by Zim $12 million (US $121) a month,
while food can drain almost Zim $8 million (US $81) from a family's
monthly expenditure.
"The average salary of the lowest-paid government employee - a cleaner
- has been hiked up from Zim $5 million to Zim $7 million (US $50
to $70), which has prompted shops to hike prices, making them [food
items] even more unaffordable," added Musongwe.
Zimbabwe is in the throes of a severe economic crisis and facing
serious food shortages as a result of recurring poor harvests and
the government's fast-track land redistribution programme, which
began in 2000 and has disrupted agricultural production and slashed
export earnings.
The government blames unofficial sanctions by western governments
for the economic crisis.
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