Most "million" were forced to march

By Vusumuzi Sifile (first published in The Standard, December 02, 2007)


MOST people in Friday’s "Million-Man March" in support of President Robert Mugabe’s candidacy in next year’s elections were forced to take part in the proceedings, it has emerged.
Among the conspicuous absentees were Vice-President Joseph Msika, Retired Army Commander Solomon Mujuru, Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, Zanu PF spokesperson Nathan Shamuyarira, Zanu PF chairperson John Nkomo, and former Home Affairs Minister Dumiso Dabengwa.
Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Minister of Rural Housing and Social Amenities Emmerson Mnangagwa, both said to be eyeing Mugabe’s job, attended the rally. Mujuru endorsed Mugabe.
According to insiders, Mujuru was "politically correct" to attend, but didn’t score high marks on the dress code for the occasion.
While everyone else wore something with Mugabe’s picture emblazoned on it, Mujuru wore a formal dress with no picture of the 83-year-old leader on it, nor the party’s flag.
War veterans’ chairman Jabulani Sibanda said "over a million" people took part in the proceedings, but independent estimates put the figure at not more than 200 000. The country’s largest stadium, the National Sports Stadium has a capacity of 65 000.
Veteran journalists and commentators said the crowd was much smaller than the number of people who came to the Zimbabwe Grounds to welcome Mugabe home in 1980.
Sibanda said no one had been coerced to march.
"We never forced them to close Mbare Musika," Sibanda said.
"People came on their own from all parts of the country. They were marching freely. In any case, does Mbare Musika even accommodate 500 people? There were over one million people at the Zimbabwe Grounds."
Even some heads of parastatals that "graced" the event went there under pressure from the top. But other senior government and ruling party officials boycotted the event.
Sibanda, the prime organiser of the solidarity marches, likened the absent top officials to "leaves in a whirlwind".
"Some of the people we always believed understood the reasons for the struggle have forgotten the purpose of the revolution," said Sibanda. "Most of them are not revolutionaries. They just found themselves among revolutionaries. They are like leaves in a whirlwind. The leaves are not a whirlwind, but they are part of it."
Shops, vegetable and flea markets in Mbare and Highfield were ordered to close down. Civil servants were coerced to take part in the event, virtually bringing business to a standstill.
War veterans and the notorious Zanu PF youth militia, donning their familiar green uniforms, shepherded vendors in the streets of Harare to join the march to the Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield, 10 km away.
And as has become the norm, the first target was Mbare Musika and Mupedzanamo Flea Market in Harare, where vendors were ordered to close their stalls and join the march.
The vendors confirmed yesterday they were given a week’s notice.
Those who refused risked losing their stalls.
When The Standard news crew visited Mbare on Friday morning, the vegetable market was unusually quiet and most shops closed. Commuter bus touts and drivers were either sleeping in their vehicles or playing games on the street, as there were no passengers to ferry into the city.
"We were told one week ago that the flea market would be closed and that everyone must join the march. We could not defy that order because we would lose our stalls," said one vendor who identified himself as Arnold. "I personally lost a lot of business because of the useless march … I usually make up to $60 million a day."
Most affected were vendors who sell perishables such as tomatoes and fruits.
There were also hundreds of travellers waiting hopelessly at the bus terminus. They said they had been told buses were ferrying people to the march and would only be available the following day.
The Standard established that some travellers from Chihota communal lands en route to Harare were diverted at ‘Mbudzi’ roundabout and ordered to join the march.
Residents of Highfield, Glen Norah and Glen View were not spared. They were rounded up and ordered to march to the Zimbabwe Grounds — where Mugabe later addressed the reluctant marchers — to make up the numbers.
Earlier in the morning, a good number of Highfield and Glen Norah residents had been given free fertilizer by Zanu PF officials so that they would take part in the march.
"We were given fertilizer for free at Gazaland shopping centre and our names were written down to make sure we took part in their march," said 57-year-old Mbuya Sibanda of Glen Norah A.
At Machipisa shopping centre, all shops — except for OK supermarket — were closed. The vegetable market at Lusaka was also closed.
Those from the rural areas who came in buses, trains and lorries, were forced to make the journey to Harare.
In some parts of Manicaland, Masvingo and Midlands people were told that those who refused risked losing the tractors, combine harvesters, fertilizer, ploughs and other implements they received from the government under the farm mechanization programme.
But there was chaos in the evening when marchers failed to get transport home. The buses that brought them were suddenly not available.
One CEO said: "If you can’t beat them, join them. That is what is happening now. If I had not attended I would have been labelled as being against Mugabe’s candidacy.
Economists say the closure of shops and industry will have a serious impact on the economy. They said other than the closure of industry, the money spent on busing people from all over the country, feeding and accommodating them could have been used to buy fuel or pay for electricity.
"We have over 4.1 million people in dire need of food, we don’t have fuel or electricity and you have a government squandering trillions of dollars in support of an old man who is the source of our misery. My foot!" said one economist.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) president, Marah Hativagoni, refused to comment saying she was attending a church service.