STELLA MAPENZAUSWA and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday
SHARP divisions are starting to emerge in Zimbabwe’s beleaguered government after police and soldiers fought running battles with protesters in a Harare township for a third successive day of riots against soaring food prices.
ZANU-PF parliamentarian Charles Ndhlovu said he would demand in parliament that the government take urgent steps to stabilise the crumbling national economy and stop prices rising.
Business has also urged Mugabe to convene a national conference on the economy. Although the government has blamed the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for orchestrating the riots, economists said the protests were a warning that the economy was in far more serious trouble than government seemed willing to believe.
The government has not responded to the calls from business or its own members, but has urged the rioters to show restraint.
Information Minister Johnathon Moyo told the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation that the MDC should ”take to parliament rather than to the streets to articulate their views on the economy.”
Prices jumped by an average one third in October alone, and official inflation is running at an annual rate of 62%. Less than half the work force is employed.
The farming industry, the backbone of the national economy, is on its knees, government coffers are bare, fuel is scarce and the Zimbabwe dollar is sinking steadily, making imports increasingly expensive.
There are fears that worse riots will erupt early next year when the price of maize is predicted to surge as a result of disrupted plantings, forcing the government to import the national staple.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has denied that his party has any role in organising the protests. Munyaradzi Bidi, national director of the Zimrights watchdog group, said the riots ”have nothing to do with MDC or (the ruling) ZANU-PF, because it has nothing to do with politics. This is just a bread and butter issue, it has to do with the question of survival.” – Reuters