Authorities arrested Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, on Monday, vowing to crush the launch of anti-government demonstrations the opposition hopes will mark the most significant challenge yet to President Robert Mugabe’s decades long rule.
Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was arrested at his home, accused of planning an illegal demonstration, said William Bango, an opposition official.
Police had come several hours before, around midnight, but left when they found Tsvangirai was not at home.
Police-manned roadblocks were set up along all the main roads leading into the capital, Harare; and military helicopters swooped over the western city of Bulawayo. Both cities are considered opposition strongholds.
In Bulawayo, two lawmakers were arrested, accused of planning an illegal demonstration, opposition officials said.
Over the weekend the High Court declared the demonstrations illegal, but the opposition plans on filing an appeal against the ruling at the Supreme Court on Monday.
State television, in its nightly news on Sunday, said planned demonstrations and strikes this week called by the main opposition will be “met with the full wrath of the law”. It said ruling party youths loyal to the government would break up opposition street demonstrations and quoted Defence Minister Sidney Sekeramayi as saying “enough measures” were being taken to stop anti-government unrest.
“Our soil is very sacrosanct. We shall not allow it to be recolonised,” Sekeramayi told the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.
The government has repeatedly accused Britain, the former colonial ruler, of funding the MDC and opposition-backed labor unions to mount a campaign to oust Mugabe.
The television showed footage of troops and riot police being deployed in Harare and file footage of tear gas being fired on demonstrators in previous protests.
Government vehicles sped through Harare late on Sunday throwing out printed fliers urging Zimbabweans to ignore opposition calls for the protests, saying: “No to mass action. No to British puppets. Let the workers go to work, let the children go to school and let the banks and businesses remain open. Remain strong.”
It was the first time the government distributed political fliers that littered the streets, with few being picked up by passers-by.
Armoured vehicles and troop carriers headed into Harare on Sunday from their base at Inkomo barracks, 40km north-west of Harare.
State television quoted Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo saying business owners who supported the protests by shutting out their workers will have their operating licences withdrawn and be forced to close.
“They are playing a risky game. They must be ready to shut permanently,” he said. The government’s response to the opposition calls for protests across the country beginning on Monday was seen as unusually forthright and a desperate effort, tinged with panic, to pre-empt the biggest challenge to its rule, analysts said.
The opposition says it wants Mugabe to negotiate on the nation’s deepening political and economic crisis and agree to step down so new presidential elections can be held.
In weekend advertisements headed “Countdown to the final push,” the opposition said: “Any thought of the dictator giving up power quietly is sheer delusion. The Zimbabweans story begins to unfold, sadly, in our streets. We are now ready to go. The end is now in sight.”
Zimbabwe is facing its worst economic crisis since independence with record inflation of 269% and acute shortages of hard currency, local money, gasoline, medicines and other essential imports and food. Only international food aid has averted mass starvation.
The government says the opposition was planning a coup to oust Mugabe through the demonstrations and strikes. It said labour unions were planning to shut down power and telecommunications to cause chaos.
As the nation tensely awaited a showdown between the government and the opposition, stores and supermarkets reported panic buying of food and provisions during the weekend that compared to the traditional rush by shoppers ahead of Christmas and other holidays. – Sapa-AP
Harare quiet as Zimbabwe braces for mass action