The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Saturday carried out its second “freedom demonstration” in the second largest city of Bulawayo.
The opposition party said this was a “Provincial protest march against poverty, joblessness, corruption, mis-governance and human rights abuses.”
With party leader Morgan Tsvangirai on sick leave following a minor operation in South Africa, his Vice President Thokozani Khupe was expected to give the keynote address.
MDC-T organising secretary Abednico Bhebhe appealed to “Zimbabweans that are feeling the pinch of mismanagement and mis-governance and those that do believe there is still a chance to resurrect the country, which is in intensive care,” to participate in the march.
“You are going to be seeing the MDC-T leadership leading from the front on Saturday. We will continue demanding that Mugabe goes to rest despite him saying he is not going anywhere, and we will continue criticising his failures and those of his government.”
“We face a tragedy as a country and we need to try and come together and realise that we are under siege as a country and tackle all the problems we face head-on. We believe in people power. We believe that no one can stop people power when the time has come to say enough is enough,” Bhebhe said.
Last month thousands of MDC supporters braved police intimidation and marched through the capital Harare demanding that President Robert Mugabe step down from power amid a worsening economic and political crisis.
Tsvangirai again demonstrated his pulling power by leading from the front and drawing an unexpectedly large crowd given previous efforts by brutal riot police to suppress opposition protests. This time around in Bulawayo the opposition leader was absent due to ill-health.
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