As protests over the rise in Zimbabwe's fuel prices continue to flare up across the country, both the government and the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), have blamed each other for the violent turn that the demonstrations have taken, simultaneously calling for a peaceful resolution
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2019) As protests over the rise in Zimbabwe's fuel prices continue to flare up across the country, both the government and the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), have blamed each other for the violent turn that the demonstrations have taken, simultaneously calling for a peaceful resolution.Protests began in Zimbabwe on January 14 after President Emmerson Mnangagwa raised fuel prices by 150 percent across the country. Demonstrators took to the streets of the country's capital of Harare and second-largest city, Bulawayo, that day, after which protests spread nationwide.
Even though Mnangagwa told Sputnik on January 15 that protests in the country would not affect his schedule of official visits to Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan, he announced on his official Twitter page five days later that he would be curtailing his tour "in light of the economic situation." He added that he would not head the Zimbabwean delegation to this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as was previously planned, announcing that Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube would take his place.
PROTESTS RAGE ON ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Dr. Nkululeko Sibanda, presidential spokesman for MDC President Nelson Chamisa, told Sputnik on Monday that the party had confirmed that over 100 people had so far been injured during the ongoing protests.
"We have confirmed 12 people who have been killed across the country, 100 people who have been seriously injured about 26 of those have received operations to retrieve bullets from their bodies," Sibanda said.
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR), in a press statement published on Thursday on the Zimeye news portal, stated that they had attended to 172 patients who had sustained injuries from gunshots, police dog bites, and clubs or sharp objects.
Sibanda stated that the violence perpetrated by the country's police and armed forces had been more than excessive.
"The fact is that the police have used more than excessive force. They have behaved as if they were in a combat zone. They went in with automatic guns, they were shooting at random, they were taking defensive positions for themselves and they were doing this under the cover of darkness. Some of them broke what you would call the combat law rule they did not have their camouflage [military uniform]. They would just blend into the population and then start shooting," Sibanda said.
Human Rights Watch, a major international non-governmental organization, urged Zimbabwean authorities to refrain from using excessive force on Wednesday, calling for accountability for instances where excessive force had been applied.
Sibanda added that a number of MDC parliamentarians had been arrested, including Rusty Markham on Monday morning. Some, like the chair of the MDC, Tabitha Khumalo, had avoided arrest by not not returning to their homes.
George Charamba, the press secretary in the office of the president of Zimbabwe, told local The Sunday Mail newspaper on Saturday that it was the MDC that was to blame for the protests, claiming that the opposition party had been threatening "violent street action" for a month and a half as a means to overturn the results of the August presidential election.
"It is a false narrative to suggest a causal link between the fuel price review and the violence unleashed in the streets by the MDC and its allies," Charamba said.
Sibanda, in response to the accusations made by Charamba, stated that the attempts to blame the protests on the MDC had been used as an excuse by the government to allow a violent response that led to the death of several protesters.
"We are clear that [Charamba] is wrong about provocation. The provocateur was ZANU PF [ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front] members... He is lying and he has lied to Emmerson Mnangagwa telling him that: we can always kill people and blame it on MDC President Nelson Chamisa," Sibanda said.
A press statement released by the office of the MDC president on Tuesday outlined that state-organized groups were responsible for looting, public violence, countrywide repression and the murder of Zimbabwean citizens throughout the duration of the protests.
On January 14, the Zimbabwean president told Sputnik in an interview that protests over the hike in fuel prices were "almost fizzling out" and that the demonstrations were a reflection of the challenges that all countries could face.
Mnangagwa also spoke out against the violence occurring during the protests in Zimbabwe on his official Twitter page on Wednesday, stating that demonstrations had morphed from legal means of expression into vandalism.
"Unfortunately, what we have witnessed is violence and vandalism instead of peaceful, legal protests. There can be no justification for violence, against people and property," Mnangagwa said.
Speaking about the protests on the sidelines of the Russia-Zimbabwe business Forum on Wednesday, Finance Minister Ncube told Sputnik that the country was undergoing necessary austerity, and asked for those feeling the brunt of the measures to remain patient.
"Of course, reforms are never easy but the outcome in the end will be a good one. We did say that we are currently going through necessary austerity but the prosperity is going to be beautiful. We have a clear vision, vision 2030. We are asking people to be patient. I think in the next couple of years they will agree with us," Ncube said, when asked how the government would respond to protests over a rise in fuel prices.
On Thursday, MDC leader Chamisa reiterated on his Twitter page the party's commitment to a peaceful resolution to the issues highlighted by the protests.
"Despite the vitriol, we maintain a dignified position befitting our role as led by the people. We remain committed to peace in solving the challenges that triggered the turmoil," Chamisa said.
Sibanda told Sputnik that the MDC had issued a call to the government to engage with the party in dialogue over the protests but had yet to receive a response.
In a press statement released on Tuesday, the MDC has also called for intervention by the South African Development Community and an investigation into the violent acts committed during the protests. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also called for an investigation on Friday into the cases of police violence against activists by Zimbabwean authorities.
