Zimbabwe crackdown intensifies

Soldiers patrolled city streets in Zimbabwe on Tuesday and confrontations with angry civilians threatened to boil over, a day after violent protests triggered by a sharp, sudden rise in fuel prices led to the death of three people, including a police officer.

Most shops remained closed, and minibus taxis that usually transport workers from the suburbs to the city centre were not running.

The BBC reported that the main office of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change was torched during the mayhem.

The government more than doubled petrol prices at the weekend after months of shortages that saw drivers queueing for hours to fill up.

Essentials such as bread and medicine have also been scarce.

As security forces faced accusations of heavy-handedness and more protests threatened to break out, labour minister Sekai Nzenza said public workers would get a monthly supplement of between 5% and 23% of their salaries until March while wage negotiations with unions continued.

Police spokesperson Charity Charamba said a police officer was stoned to death by protesters in Bulawayo.

She said two other people died during protests in Chitungwiza, south of Harare, and Kadoma, west of the capital.

MDC opposition party spokesperson Jacob Mafume said: “This is needless loss of lives. Many have been injured, some of them seriously.”

On Tuesday, police fired teargas in Bulawayo after protesters chanted for the removal of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

An AFP reporter witnessed looting in the city, a stronghold of opposition to the ruling Zanu-PF party.

Zimbabwe’s cellphone networks and internet were partially shut down, with one industry source saying the systems had been jammed.

In Harare’s suburb of Kuwadzana, police were on patrol and forcing people off the streets. One resident, Tawanda Mataya, said police had beaten him and slapped his 17-yearold son.

“It’s so painful,” Mataya said, showing swellings on his back.

“I was standing at my gate to assess whether I could go to work then this group of police who were passing by started beating me.

“My son, who heard me screaming and opened the window to see what was happening, was slapped several times.”

Mnangagwa announced the fuel price increase in a televised address late on Saturday, saying it was needed to tackle severe shortages and “rampant” illegal trading.

Speaking in Russia on Monday, he said the fuel price hike “was necessary and still is”.

On Monday, the police dispersed hundreds of protesters who burnt tyres, erected barricades and looted businesses on the first day of a three-day general strike.

Security minister Owen Ncube said the security action caused loss of life, without giving figures on the number of dead and wounded.

The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said 13 people had sustained gunshot wounds in and around Harare on Monday.

At least 200 people were arrested during the disturbances.

Zimbabwe’s economy has been in dire straits since hyperinflation wiped out savings between 2007 and 2009, when the Zimbabwean dollar was abandoned in favour of the US currency.

Zimbabweans mainly rely on electronic payments as US dollar notes are in short supply.

The local “bond note” currency, introduced in 2016, is little trusted and falling in value.

On Tuesday morning, the information ministry said on Twitter that public order had been restored.

The Zimbabwe Trade Union Confederation, for its part, reiterated its call to strike.

“Our struggle is genuine and there must be economic reforms for the poor to survive,” it tweeted.