SUSPECTED Zanu PF youths yesterday blocked more than 1 000 informal traders at Glen View home industries in Harare from entering their furniture factory shells, accusing them of snubbing the burial of national hero Stanley Sakupwanya on Sunday.
FELUNA NLEYA STAFF REPORTER
The party youths allegedly barricaded the main entrance and ordered the traders to stay away for a day in honour of the fallen Zanu PF hero who died last week and was buried at the National Heroes Acre.
“They closed the market today saying the people who went to the Heroes Acre yesterday were very few and those who did not go were not going ahead with their business today,” one of the traders, who asked not to be identified for fear of victimisation, said.
It is understood that some of the traders who attended Sakupwanya’s burial had their hands date-stamped and their names recorded as proof of their loyalty to Zanu PF.
“They [Zanu PF youths] said only people with date stamps were being allowed in and people like us who did not have the stamps were not allowed in,” another trader said.
“I also went to the Heroes Acre, but I did not use the bus which collected people from here. So I do not have a stamp and have been refused entry.”
One of the traders, who had stamps on his hands, said: “I attended the burial and it is business as usual for me. Why would I not attend the burial of a hero? I go and spend a few hours that’s all and come back and continue with my business.”
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But Zanu PF Harare provincial youth chairperson Godwin Gomwe said he was not aware of the incident.
“I am not aware of that, it’s politics,” Gomwe said before he hung up his mobile phone.
This is not the first time that Zanu PF youths have been accused of punishing vendors and other informal traders for failing to attend funeral services for national heroes.
Several traders in Mbare and Chitungwiza have previously accused Zanu PF supporters of forcing them to attend party functions and buy party membership cards to secure their market stalls. Traders were sometimes forced to display posters of President Robert Mugabe and/or a Zanu PF flag at their sites.
