Fear keeping MDC off streets

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s main opposition is trying to bolster fearful supporters before confronting President Robert Mugabe with mass street protests, its leader said on Sunday.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said in March it planned to launch peaceful mass demonstrations seeking to end Mugabe’s long rule, write a new constitution and hold fresh internationally-supervised elections. But more than six months on, the protests have yet to begin, leaving political observers wondering if Zimbabweans are simply too cowed to take their grievances to the streets.”We will organise the critical mass which is going to demonstrate in the streets but you don’t build it overnight,” Morgan Tsvangirai told thousands of supporters in Harare during celebrations to mark seven years since the party’s launch.”We first have to remove the fear in our people (and) the constraints that Zimbabweans are facing,” said Tsvangirai, leader of the main faction of the split party.The MDC had resisted pressure to launch street protests which would not draw large crowds, he added.Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s leader since independence from Britain in 1980, has warned opponents that the army stood ready to “pull the trigger” against anyone seeking to topple him as a mounting political and economic crisis raises fears of unrest.The MDC, which has come closest to unseating Mugabe, has been weakened by internal squabbling, the latest being a split in October last year over participation in senate elections.The MDC accuses Mugabe of rigging elections since 2000 and charges that the veteran leader has ruined the once-prosperous economy through controversial policies, such as the seizure of land from white commercial farmers.Zimbabwe is in the throes of its worst economic crisis with the world’s highest inflation of 1 200%, unemployment above 70%, shortages of foreign currency, food and fuel and deepening poverty.Nampa-ReutersBut more than six months on, the protests have yet to begin, leaving political observers wondering if Zimbabweans are simply too cowed to take their grievances to the streets.”We will organise the critical mass which is going to demonstrate in the streets but you don’t build it overnight,” Morgan Tsvangirai told thousands of supporters in Harare during celebrations to mark seven years since the party’s launch.”We first have to remove the fear in our people (and) the constraints that Zimbabweans are facing,” said Tsvangirai, leader of the main faction of the split party.The MDC had resisted pressure to launch street protests which would not draw large crowds, he added.Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s leader since independence from Britain in 1980, has warned opponents that the army stood ready to “pull the trigger” against anyone seeking to topple him as a mounting political and economic crisis raises fears of unrest.The MDC, which has come closest to unseating Mugabe, has been weakened by internal squabbling, the latest being a split in October last year over participation in senate elections.The MDC accuses Mugabe of rigging elections since 2000 and charges that the veteran leader has ruined the once-prosperous economy through controversial policies, such as the seizure of land from white commercial farmers.Zimbabwe is in the throes of its worst economic crisis with the world’s highest inflation of 1 200%, unemployment above 70%, shortages of foreign currency, food and fuel and deepening poverty.Nampa-Reuters