Chamisa Warns, ‘Mnangagwa worse than Mugabe’

Zimbabwe continues to descend further into crisis. Today opposition leader Nelson Chamisa has criticised the country’s President over his handling of protests against fuel prices.

At least 12 people have been killed after police violently repressed civilian protests, there have even been reports of door-to-door searches and the arrest of several opposition MPS in a series of moves that mirror former President Robert Mugabe’s authoritarian style.

Nelson Chamisa spoke to the BBC World Service today warning;

‘The economy is totally going southwards. It is in bad shape, the economic meltdown is a manifestation of the absence of confidence in the market, but absence of confidence is necessitated by the political crisis and the political stalemate in the country, occasioned by disputed elections, occasioned by a deficit of good governance, a deficit of democracy.’

Zimbabwe asked its neighbour South Africa for a $1.2 billion loan in December to try and prevent further economic collapse, however this was denied. The fuel price hikes shortly after this. Zimbabwe now has the most expensive fuel in the world and many Zimbabweans found overnight they couldn’t afford the bus to work.

Access to the internet has been intermittent throughout the week with civilians finding they are unable to use social media and WhatsApp – a move used recently in the DRC by President Kabila to shut down reports of violence.