Back to Index

Zimbabweans still to muster enough courage to confront Mugabe on the streets
ZimOnline
July 17, 2006

http://www.zimonline.co.za/printme.asp?ID=12473

HARARE - Zimbabwe's labour movement and the opposition appear to be turning the heat on President Robert Mugabe, announcing worker protests at the month-end and calling for civil uprising but analysts say it will require more to convince Zimbabweans to confront state security forces on the streets.

Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) secretary general Wellington Chibebe last week said the umbrella union will call nationwide street protests by workers for better pay in the last week of July, putting the labour group on a collision course with the government.

Chibebe - who for strategic reasons refused to disclose the exact dates of the protests - spoke as main Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party leader Morgan Tsvangirai also last week ordered provincial leaders of his party to hasten mobilising support for mass protests to force Mugabe to accept sweeping political reforms.

The new-found energy appeared to have been set in motion after Mugabe last month deftly avoided international censure when United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan cancelled a trip to Harare after being told by Mugabe that former Tanzanian leader Benjamin Mkapa was mediating between Zimbabwe and Britain.

Annan was expected to use the Harare trip to pressure Mugabe to agree to step down in return for substantial international aid for crisis-weary Zimbabwe and immunity for the veteran President from prosecution for human rights crimes committed while in office.

The analysts said Chibebe and Tsvangirai's calls last week rallying workers and MDC supporters for mass action was a sign the opposition movement could be slowly mustering the courage to confront the government after months of hesitation.

"Definitely the time appears right for demonstrations against the regime because there is a lot of anger and pain among the people," said John Makumbe, a University of Zimbabwe (UZ) political analyst and Mugabe critic.

He added: "And I think Zimbabweans are beginning to realise that they need to do something in the form of civil disobedience because this government is going downhill and it might well take all of us with it."

Chibebe said the labour union had resolved to go on strike after the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe, grouping employers in the country, refused to adjust wages in line with the country's galloping inflation, which is the highest in the world at 1 184.6 percent.

Zimbabweans have grappled with foreign currency, food and fuel shortages, while poverty has deepened and services have crumbled as the country's economy implodes from what critics say is a result of bad policies by Mugabe's government.

The crisis has fanned anger among ordinary people, most of whom are without jobs and have to do with a single meal a day. The government's Central Statistical Office last week said an average family of five would now require Z$68 million for basic goods and services per month, this against an average salary of $15 to $20 million a month for most workers.

The analysts said the recent moves proved that the opposition forces could be starting to converge on the need for a stronger anti-government alliance but warned that despite a litany of economic problems fuelling public anger against the government many Zimbabweans appeared reluctant "to lose life or limb" by taking to the streets to confront Mugabe's army and police.

"I should think the action by the opposition and the ZCTU is meant to test the waters. Their problem is that they have not yet secured the critical mass. They have a broad mass of passive supporters who I think have not reached that threshold of anger," leading UZ political commentator Eldred Masunungure told ZimOnline.

"Until they reach that stage when they can transform anger into public action, we will continue to see these sporadic protests and threats of winters of discontent," Masunungure added, referring to threats by Tsvangirai earlier this year to mobilise mass protests this winter to force Mugabe to give up power to a transitional government.

The transitional authority would be tasked to write a new and democratic constitution for Zimbabwe and to organise fresh elections under international supervision, Tsvangirai said.

Mugabe, who has in the past sent armed soldiers and police onto the streets to crush dissent, has repeatedly vowed to be ruthless with the opposition-led mass protests and has warned Tsvangirai that such protests would be a "dice with death".

But opinion is divided on whether security forces, which Mugabe has relied on to keep the opposition in check, would this time round use force to break any protests - especially if they were huge and well organised.

Zimbabwe's police and army have not been spared from the economic rot and despite salary increments earlier in the year, economic analysts say their earnings have been whittled by raging inflation.

"There is a very strong possibility that the government will respond
(to the demonstrations) as usual but the law enforcement agents might not be too keen to prolong the departure of this regime. There could be a lukewarm response in discouraging members of the public to take to the streets," Makumbe said.

But Masunungure said: "The government has made it clear it will defend itself against these protests and I am sure it will use all the force at its disposal."

Zimbabwe has remained on knife edge since the MDC first threatened mass anti-government protests last March while worsening economic hardships and food shortages continue stoking up tensions in the troubled southern African country.

Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since the country's 1980 independence from Britain, denies mismanaging the country and says its problems are because of economic sabotage by Western governments opposed to his seizure of white land.

The analysts however seem to agree that effective planning and organisation or failure to do so by the MDC, labour and civic society could be all the difference between a Zimbabwe without Mugabe in charge or more years at the helm for one of Africa's last remaining 'Big Men' rulers.

"The co-ordination of their (opposition groups) activities leaves a lot to be desired and their fragmentation is still a very serious liability . they will have to be more co-ordinated to focus on a specific period and action to be taken by the people," said Makumbe, echoing the views of most analysts. - ZimOnline

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP