by Shongedzai Mugwagwa
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) planned a stay away which turned out to be the worst demonstration the trade union has planned.
Various stakeholders have swarmed against the Government over its response of shutting down the internet to avoid the situation which had got out of hand.
There is a question many are avoiding to ask; what was the intended outcome of a three day planned stay away? Nobody can give an answer to that burning question.
Every media house is ignoring the obvious question about the whereabouts of the convener of the demonstration which turned out to be the most riotous ever experienced by Zimbabwe since Independence. The stay away resulted in all acts of criminal activities such as extortion, arson, vandalism, looting and unprecedented levels of violence against innocent persons.
Where is the ZCTU President, Peter Mutasa?
That is a million dollar question which every media house is ignoring.
Mutasa is on record calling for a mass stay away against the Government decision to raise fuel prices by almost 150%. Various voices castigate the move by Mutasa to call for a mass stay away psyching citizens to revolt against its Government.
Instead, these various voices are of the view that Mutasa should have organised a demonstration against transport operators for an unreasonable hiking of fares by more than 300% to an extent that people were made to pay for a litre of fuel per head as fares. Ridiculous.
It was not justified to take the fight against the Government which had corrected a wrong exchange rate which had made our fuel the cheapest in the region that our neighbours were refuelling in Zimbabwe—explaining the ballooning of consumption rate in Zimbabwe.
Back to the burning question, if Mutasa’s call for a stay away was genuine and not hinged on any political motive; why is he in hiding up to date?
MDC activists are running with the narrative that Mutasa was missing since Monday 14 January 2018—a day where he said he would be leading from the front in the stay away.
His whereabouts are a story yet to be told to the nation. What boggles the author is why Mutasa after calling for a stay away, if it was genuinely a stay away, did he run away and seek homage in some foreign embassies.
Who was going to persecute him if he was divorced from what transpired on the fateful days which reduced Harare and Bulawayo to ashes if he was innocent?
This is a challenge to Mutasa, if he has no case to answer, why is he in hiding? That is a million dollar question no one has satisfactorily responded to.
