However, the police, who have violently cracked down on protests by vendors and urban transport crews in recent weeks, have advised the graduates “to find other avenues” to channel their protest.
“This office is…discouraging the issue of marching in the central business district as it interrupts the smooth flow of both human and vehicular traffic,” Newbert Saunyama, the top police officer in Harare central district, wrote to the graduates’ representative body on July 25, in response to their notice of intention to march.
“We, however, encourage you to pursue other avenues to submit your petition to the relevant authorities rather than engaging in marching.”
Zimbabwe’s stringent public order laws make the expression of public dissent difficult and the police frequently use force to clamp down on demonstrations.
However, Zimbabweans emboldened by the deteriorating economic situation have tested the limits of the law in recent months, with social movements drawn from churches, urban transporters, unemployed youths and vendors successfully calling for a national shutdown that paralysed businesses and cost the economy an estimated $10 million on July 6, the biggest protest against Mugabe in about a decade.
A group of graduates in academic apparel yesterday bemused shoppers in Harare’s First Street mall as they milled around and played mini-football, all to illustrate unwanted indolence.
“We have gone through school, passed with good grades, but cannot find jobs. All we want are decent jobs and opportunities to start businesses. We are not lazy, we just lack opportunities. By wearing our gowns, we are not insulting anyone, we just want jobs,” an unnamed member of the group having a kick-about said in an impromptu address to a sizeable group of on-lookers held spell-bound by the novel protest.-The Source
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