Source: The Telegraph
As their country is sucked into a the depths of a new economic crisis, Zimbabweans are beginning to run out of patience.
“We can’t get jobs. And if we have jobs, we can’t get our money out of the bank,” said Evan Mawarire, who ran the social media campaign that inspired a rare general strike last Wednesday.
After 36 years of rule by president Robert Mugabe, the country is again on the brink of collapse.
The regime has run out of funds, leaving it unable to pay civil servants, teachers or policemen.
In the past the Reserve Bank would have printed more money, but since 2009 the country has used the US dollar as its currency.
Unless the International Monetary Fund or another institution is willing give Zimbabwe a bail-out, there is no way of avoiding the creeping paralysis and collapse of the economy. Banks have already started preventing people from withdrawing cash.
“Enough is enough,” said Mr Mawarire. “We can’t go on like this, and continue to endure poverty and injustice.”
The 39-year-old pastor from the capital, Harare has risen to prominence with a series of videos and Facebook posts, in which he appears wrapped in the national flag, railing against the country’s problems, under the hashtag #ThisFlag.
He disavowed links to any political parties, saying he started the campaign in April when he found himself unable to pay his children’s school fees.
“It is just me and a couple of friends,” he said. “We can’t survive any more. We can’t live any more.” But he is anxious because Mr Mugabe’s regime is furious with him – partly because of what his campaign has inspired, rather than his own messages.
“I am not ever going to encourage violence, or threaten people,” he said. However, there were outbreaks of violence during and before the general strike last Wednesday.
Days earlier, demonstrators set a warehouse alight on the South African border, protesting against new restrictions on imports. Bus drivers attacked police in protest against the countless roadblocks, where officers impose fines for non-existent traffic offences.
Political analysts have questioned whether Mr Mugabe, 92, can hold on to power. Derek Matyszak, an expert on the region, said: “The crisis is deepening – we can’t see how they will get out of this as cash is so short.”
Patrick Chinamasa, the finance minister and a loyal ally of Mr Mugabe, was in London for a conference last week. He is on the hunt for a bail-out and faced protests from Zimbabweans who said they had been victims of the regime’s political violence.
“We don’t want the UK to [bail out] Mugabe,” said one. “We want him to go first.”
Source: The Telegraph