DURBAN - Zimbabwe’s National Patriotic Front (NPF), for which former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and his wife have voiced support, has called on President Emmerson Mnangagwa to resign as protests over petrol prices continue.
Several people were killed during clashes between demonstrators and security forces on Monday.
“NPF wishes to register disquiet over reports of loss of life in Harare, Chitungwiza and other parts of the country in the ongoing demonstrations against the debilitating economic decay bedevilling our country,” the political party said yesterday.
“We hereby call on President Mnangagwa and his government to resign en masse and pave the way for a broad-based platform for different social groupings in the country, including political parties, civic organisations and the church, to negotiate for modalities to institute a democratic transitional government tasked with returning the country to constitutionalism and prosperity.”
The party’s press release added that it noted the country’s continuing deteriorating economic conditions after the “unconstitutional takeover of government by the Zanu-PF Lacoste faction in November 2017, which culminated in the blatant rigging of the July 30 harmonised elections”.
The NPF added that it believed in human rights, constitutionalism, the rule of law and the sanctity of human life, and condemned the loss of lives as protesters attempted to exercise their right to peaceful demonstrations as enshrined in Zimbabwe’s constitution.
The time bomb that has been ticking in Zimbabwe for the past few months exploded on Monday.
Armed police fired live ammunition on anti-government protesters demonstrating against the escalating economic crisis which has been aggravated by a massive fuel hike.
The price increase announced by Mnangagwa at the weekend sparked the scenes reminiscent to the 2016/17 protests against the then government of Mugabe.
Mnangagwa was, coincidentally, on a trip to Russia and some former Soviet countries before the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. On Saturday, he announced the prices would triple to $3.11 (R42.98) a litre for diesel and $3.31 a litre for petrol.
The shooting of two people in an impoverished area outside the capital, Harare, came moments after the city resembled a war zone. Protesters ran riot, burnt tyres, used stones to barricade roads and blocked public transport from carrying passengers.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has called for a three-day work stayaway. This comes weeks after similar action by medical doctors and industrial action brought health services and education to a halt. African News Agency (ANA) CAJ News