Trouble is brewing

Over the past few days, we have received utterances from the main political parties. The opposition MDC Alliance youths released a statement yesterday. In their bold statement marred with threats of protests and possible violence, the newly elected MDC Alliance youth leader demonstrated an appetite for protests. Among other issues, the speech might have been triggered by another recent statement by the MDC Alliance insinuating that Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI) are looking for details of their newly-elected leadership in every province throughout the country.

In turn, ZANU PF youths retaliated with their new moto “ED never walks alone”. ZANU PF youths also expressed that they are ready to defend President Mnangagwa and warned that their enemies should keep their hands-off ED. Worryingly, ZANU PF youths warned that they will defend their leader by any means necessary. The extent to which they are willing to protect their leader does not rule out the possibility of violence.

Now that lines have been drawn from the main players in Zimbabwe’s topsy-turvy politics, the major question becomes, “who will draw the first string, how will that affect citizens and our fast collapsing economy?” To recap, hate speech and intimidation of this nature was a precursor to the 1 August violence. We should also bear in mind that the current state of affairs (soaring prices of goods) was also responsible for the January 14 protests. In light of this, we already have the necessary ingredients for another violent episode. The environment is volatile.

Political parties are urged to put their thinking caps on and not to antagonise each other. The general masses always suffer in times of civil disobedience and in times torrid economic conditions as we are currently witnessing. There are various platforms that can still be used to engage in a meaningful dialogue, we are not inventing the wheel, therefore, all platforms for genuine social dialogue should be attempted before violence becomes a necessity. Tinoda runyararo and tolerance is the key.