{"id":2292,"date":"2019-01-22T13:15:04","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T13:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=2292"},"modified":"2019-01-22T13:15:04","modified_gmt":"2019-01-22T13:15:04","slug":"zimbabwe-is-sliding-into-violent-political-meltdown-as-its-dire-economy-comes-off-the-rails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-is-sliding-into-violent-political-meltdown-as-its-dire-economy-comes-off-the-rails","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe is sliding into violent political meltdown as its dire economy comes off the rails"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zimbabwe is sliding into a violent meltdown and it\u2019s expected\u00a0to worsen, unless there are some serious interventions.<\/p>\n

Days of mass\u00a0protests\u00a0have been characterized by violence, looting and heavy-handedness by the police and army. It has led to the deaths and injury of many people, largely in Harare and Bulawayo\u2019s high-density areas.\u00a0According\u00a0to the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, at least 12 people have been killed and thousands injured.<\/p>\n

In addition to placing many urban areas under military siege, the government has also\u00a0shut down\u00a0social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook. These are viewed as the avenue through which the opposition and other civil society bodies have been communicating messages of \u201canarchy\u201d. The internet has been shut down twice on separate occasions.<\/p>\n

The deadly violence was triggered by president Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s announcement of\u00a0steep fuel price hikes\u00a0on Saturday Jan.9 . Made in the dead of night, the announcement proved to be the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back for a largely peaceful, if not somewhat passive, populace that has borne the brunt of two decades of economic meltdown.<\/p>\n

Mnangagwa\u2019s regime increased the prices of fuel by a staggering 150%, making Zimbabwe\u2019s fuel among the\u00a0most expensive\u00a0in the world. The sharp fuel hike prompted the country\u2019s largest trade union body, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, and other civil society bodies such as the Crisis Coalition, to call for a three-day mass stay away from work.<\/p>\n

\n
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The reaction was hardly surprising. Conditions have become fertile for a massive militant mass revolt. Shortages of a lot of goods have become the order of the day. Long fuel queues, and incessant electricity and water cuts have not helped the situation for poverty-weary Zimbabweans.<\/p>\n

Mnangagwa, and those he can rally behind him in the ruling Zanu-PF, need urgently to take steps towards forming a government of national unity, as has been done before in the country. This will require the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC-Alliance) to get its act together by behaving maturely. Another urgent step that\u2019s needed is that the country\u2019s chaotic currency situation needs immediate resolution.<\/p>\n

currency crunch<\/p>\n

Prior to the deadly protests, Zimbabweans endured a tumultuous few months economically as the country\u2019s cash crunch worsened.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zimbabwe is sliding into a violent meltdown and it\u2019s expected\u00a0to worsen, unless there are some serious interventions. Days of mass\u00a0protests\u00a0have been characterized by violence, looting and heavy-handedness by the police and army. It has led to the deaths and injury of many people, largely in Harare and Bulawayo\u2019s high-density areas.\u00a0According\u00a0to the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,8,35],"tags":[83,55,111,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-2292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-economy","9":"category-head-lines","10":"category-homepage-english","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-government","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-zimbawe-policies"},"yoast_head":"\nZimbabwe is sliding into violent political meltdown as its dire economy comes off the rails - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-is-sliding-into-violent-political-meltdown-as-its-dire-economy-comes-off-the-rails\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zimbabwe is sliding into violent political meltdown as its dire economy comes off the rails\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zimbabwe is sliding into a violent meltdown and it\u2019s expected\u00a0to worsen, unless there are some serious interventions. 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