Zimbabwe is probably at a worse state than it was under President Robert Mugabe. With inflation at more than 175 per cent, discontent is at a high. There is a severe shortage of food and clean water, electricity is available for only six hours a day. Robert Mugabe was ousted in 2017 and former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa replaced Mugabe in the hope of making things better.
But it looks like Mnangagwa is in for some tough times ahead with protests gaining momentum. And the government wants to curb protests, with Zimbabwe's courts upholding a police court order banning an anti-government demonstration Monday in Bulawayo, the country's second-largest city.
Bulawayo's streets are playing hosts to armed police officials throughout the day. The deteriorating economy under Mnangagwa had caused the opposition party to call for protests. They demand a transitional government to ease the political tension and the protest was meant as a follow-up to those held in the capital, Harare, on Friday when several hundred demonstrators marched in defiance of a police ban that was upheld by the High Court.
Rains have been bad, clean tap water is available only for a few days each day. Mnangagwa regime taking dollars from accounts from the people's accounts and replacing it with electronic funny money that now seems to have fallen in value. Something similar happened during Mugabe's regime when he started printing Zimbabwean money, which increased inflation.
According to the World food program, a UN agency, if the situation continues, about half the population of the country will struggle to eat one meal a day.
In the meantime, Zimbabwe's former vice president on Monday fled from anti-corruption questioning after he was summoned over alleged criminal abuse of office, according to officials.
Phelekezela Mphoko, 79, who served under long-time ruler Robert Mugabe, was due at the police in Bulawayo, the country's second city, to record a statement on the allegations.
Mphoko was one of two vice presidents at the time of the ouster by the military of Mugabe in November 2017.
He left the country as the coup unfolded but later returned.
The lawyer said the ex-vice president was prepared to appear in court to answer the charges, but “Mphoko claims he heard from impeccable sources that if he is detained, he will be injected with a poisonous substance”.
The police over the weekend made 91 arrests. MDC leader Nelson Chamisa said that the situation is worse than what it was during Mugabe's regime.
