Zimbabwe's Deserted Streets Tell a Story of Disillusionment

Despite calls for protests by Zimbabwe's war veteran Blessed Geza, who has repeatedly critiqued President Emmerson Mnangagwa, many Zimbabweans chose to stay home yesterday March 31, leaving the streets deserted.

In anticipation of crowds of protesters, President Mnangagwa deployed police in Harare. However, they mostly met deserted streets, with just a few people protesting.

The leader of Nkayi District, Chief Dakamela, says he was outside Bulawayo yesterday, but Zimbabweans didn't come out to protest. Although he chose not to comment on the issue explicitly, he says the atmosphere "was quiet, and people did not participate. They actually stayed away from the protest," he tells OkayAfrica.

According to Danisa Zulu, a civil engineer based in Zimbabwe, the low turnout of protesters on the streets of Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, and Masingo is due to a distrust of the ruling Zanu-PF party, and the masses' desire to avoid the potential crossfire that might occur. For decades, many Zimbabweans have felt like political pawns and are now striving to avoid that.

"On the surface, Geza has the support of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga to call for protests. He set up a date, the 31st of March, for people to take to the street to express their anger and dissatisfaction at how the country is being run. But we cannot be fooled that this is about the people's welfare," Zulu tells OkayAfrica. "It is about the two factions in Zanu-PF fighting to control the party, and they want the current president to leave office."

There has been a campaign to extend the tenure of President Mnangagwa by two years. The president is serving his second term after coming to power in 2017 when a military takeover led to former President Robert Mugabe's resignation after 37 years. Years ago, Geza was among the staunch supporters who helped put Mnangagwa in power, but things have changed.

In avideo statement released yesterday, Geza said the absence of Zimbabwean citizens on the streets was a protest of its own.

Zimbabwe's political history has followed a pattern. Before his authoritarian leadership, Mugabe had been a freedom fighter, promising to liberate the country from Western oppression and create a better economic climate. He was regarded as a revolutionary when he became prime minister in 1980, later becoming president in 1987. However, under his rule, Zimbabwe plunged into poverty, with the Zimbabwean dollar eventually exchanging for about 500 billion to one dollar.

Similarly, Mnangagwa was initially welcomed as a liberator who would improve Zimbabwe's economic situation. Citizens celebrated across the country when he took office in 2018, but the expected relief hasn't materialized. The economic decline has accelerated: inflation remains dangerously high, unemployment continues to cripple communities, and poverty rates have worsened significantly.

"Things have become economically and socially worse since Mnangagwa was installed in 2017/18," Zulu says. "People are feeling the pinch to the extent that some are beginning to say that perhaps President Mugabe was better. He was bad, but Mnangagwa is worse."

In April 2024, a new currency–Zimbabwe gold (ZiG)–was introduced to address the continuous deterioration of the Zimbabwean dollar and resulting hyperinflation. Despite this, Zimbabweans continue to use foreign currency, particularly the US dollar, for their economic needs.

The ruling party's efforts to change the constitution to enable a third term for Mnangagwa have heightened citizens' sense of déjà vu as they see parallels with the Mugabe era.

"There was a very elaborate process in amending the constitution to ensure that we do not have a president for life like the previous president," Zulu says, "To extend [Mnangagwa's] term by another two years would mean changing this constitution and disregarding the effort that people put together to come up with it. Since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has never really known democracy. We know the protest that Geza is calling for is not for us. If change were to come to Zimbabwe, it would mean, first, the removal of the Zanu-PF party, which thrives on corruption, theft, and harassment of its citizens."