Johannesburg – After calling for national dialogue and promising to investigate the ongoing violence afflicting Zimbabwe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has placed the blame for the current crisis squarely on the shoulders of the opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance.
Secretary for Information Nick Mangwana said in a statement released on behalf of the president that the MDC was to blame for last week's protests against a steep fuel price hike and for the deaths that resulted from the violence in the crackdown that followed, Pindula News reported on Wednesday.
In the statement, Mnangagwa expressed his gratitude to the majority of Zimbabweans who he said had resisted the MDC Alliance’s “coercion and wanton hooliganism”.
He said his heart went out to those who had lost family members as a result of the violence.
Mnangagwa further claimed there was a false link between the 150 percent fuel price hike and the protests, reiterating last week’s vow by his officials that the MDC Alliance would be held responsible for all losses.