Zimbabwe: Economic challenges leading to protests

A coalition of Zimbabwe's opposition parties under the name National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) on Friday vowed to challenge a police order barring protests in the capital, Harare. The Zimbabwean police had announced a ban on protests earlier this week in an attempt to end demonstrations against President Robert Mugabe.

NERA is demanding reform ahead of the 2018 elections. They have planned nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, despite the ban. NERA spokesman Douglas Mwonzora told the news agency AFP that the opposition parties would challenge the ban in the high court. "A similar order was challenged before a competent court, which declared it invalid, and nothing is to be gained by issuing the same order again," he said.

President Mugabe had vowed to crack down on dissent and had blasted judges for "reckless" rulings allowing previous rallies.

Pastor Evan Mawarire of the #ThisFlag campaign, who is currently not in Zimbabwe, is urging all Zimbabweans in the USA to gather for protests. "We are in New York City at the United Nations General Assembly to tell our government and the world that we want an end to injustice, corruption and poverty," he wrote on his Facebook page.

Promise Mkwananzi, member of the pressure group Tajamuka, also said that they would march on Saturday despite the police order. "The constitution and the high court allow for peaceful demonstrations," he told AFP. Mkwananzi is calling for a national strike to pile pressure on President Mugabe and the ruling ZANU-PF party. He was released on $100 bail earlier this week after spending almost a month in prison.

Economic crisis leading to demonstrations

Right after Mkwananzi was freed, there were reports that another of Tajamuka's activists, actor Sylvanos Mudzvova, had been abducted and beaten up by assailants and left stranded a few miles outside Harare.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said it had received reports that suspected ZANU-PF supporters were attacking people believed to have joined anti-government protests. The human rights lawyers also said that there are numerous claims of police brutality.

Zimbabwe's 92-year-old president is confronted with growing discontent in his country in the face of serious economic problems and increasing unemployment after a 36-year reign. The southern African nation has seen regular violent clashes between police and anti-government protesters demanding electoral reforms. Public demonstrations have been triggered by an economic crisis that has left banks short of cash and the government struggling to pay its workers.

However, Zimbabwe on Thursday said that it would introduce its own bond notes equivalent to the US dollar, hoping to ease the cash crunch. These would begin to circulate in October starting with small denominations of 2 and 5 dollars. Many Zimbabweans fear a repeat of the excessive printing that led to hyperinflation.