Unelected governors will be installed to run two cities in Zimbabwe where anti-government protests have intensified in the past week, the government said yesterday.
President Robert Mugabe was immediately accused of trying to usurp mayors from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Harare, the capital, and Bulawayo.
The move was announced yesterday in the state-owned Herald newspaper, which quoted the local government minister, Ignatius Chombo.
Chombo denied that the new governors would take on the role of the mayors, but local observers disagreed.
”The Mugabe government has already made it impossible for the two mayors to do their jobs properly and it is putting in place officials who will tell the mayors what to do,” said John Makumbe, chairman of Transparency International Zimbabwe.
”Mugabe and his party, Zanu-PF, are control freaks and they are trying to take back any power or responsibility the opposition has won.”
Bulawayo and Harare have experienced food riots in the past week. People are unhappy with food shortages, inflation at 175% and unemployment at more than 60%.
”The battle lines have been drawn,” said Makumbe, who is also a lecturer in political science at the University of Zimbabwe.
However it was not clear when Mugabe would appoint the new governors. – Guardian Unlimited Â