Zanu-PF quakes over shutdown

Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial leadership has been shaken by recent calls for a national shutdown by pressure group Pachedu and number of student organisations.

The calls for a shutdown arose from growing discontent among citizens over the ruling party's failure to address the worsening economic situation.

Pachedu and Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu) last week called for a national stay away to be staged today (Monday).

Zanu-PF is, however, accusing the United States embassy in Zimbabwe of funding Pachedu.

Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial spokesperson Archbold Chiponda said: "Call for a shutdown as who? To achieve what? Right now times are tough, all shoulders are being put to the wheel in an effort to achieve economic growth and to lift all our people to a better situation in the country and you have some advocating for stay aways.

"It absolutely boggles the mind when you hear someone advocating for an illegality in the form of mushikashika and illegal commuter omnibus operators….have they bothered to check the death and accident statistics since the government gave sanity to the transport sector through the return to Zupco? The answer is to sit down and figure out how to capacitate the sector to make further gains, not to simply call for a return to illegality for the sake of expediency."

Chiponda said when he perused Twitter he saw that Pachedu had posted a picture of students in Denmark holding placards encouraging Zimbabwean students not to attend their institutions of higher learning.

He questioned how ironic it was for students who are at schools abroad, getting their education, to tell other students not to go to school.

Chiponda said the best advice for Pachedu and its handlers was to find somewhere to play their games. He said this was the time for Zimbabweans to pull all their weight and work.