By Nkosana Dlamini | ZimLive |
HARARE – Firebrand war veteran Blessed Geza resurfaced online Tuesday evening in his usual abrasive tone as he called for nationwide street protests on March 31 to demand President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s immediate resignation.
In a half-hour long “State of the Nation Address” he posted on YouTube and X (Twitter), Geza, who was decked out in military gear, said the planned demonstration was “not even a protest but an uprising.”
“Fellow Zimbabweans, we implore all of you on 31 March … everyone should invade the streets. We want spy Mnangagwa and his rogues to go,” said Geza, a staunch backer of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s presidential ambitions.
The war veteran, believed to be exiled in South Africa, called on private individuals to assist demonstrators with transport on the day of the planned protests.
He also warned Police Commissioner General Stephen Mutamba not to interfere with the demonstrations saying the protests were meant to free him and his subordinates from economic hardship brought on all Zimbabweans through maladministration by the Mnangagwa administration.
“We do not ever want to hear that there is any demonstrator who was beaten up or injured,” he said, adding that the planned action against the Zimbabwe incumbent was “an unstoppable wave”.
Geza called on Mnangagwa to surrender power with no resistance.
The defiant ex-combatant openly canvassed for Chiwenga to become president saying prominent opposition politicians such as Nelson Chamisa, Job Sikhala and Tendai Biti were in support of the former military commander’s ascendancy to power.
Geza went into hiding over a month ago after holding press conferences boldly denouncing the 82-year-old leader’s unpopular bid to cling onto power beyond 2028, when his second and final term expires.
Police say they are keen to arrest Geza, nicknamed Bombshell, on allegations of undermining the president and inciting violence.
Little is known about his whereabouts.
However, Geza’s sudden reappearance in military gear has sparked fears of another military coup reminiscent of the November 2017 ouster of former President Robert Mugabe.
Little is known about the source of his bravado although there are strong beliefs he could be backed by Chiwenga or persons keen on putting spanners in the works of Mnangagwa’s bid for an unconstitutional third term.
Chiwenga has not publicly commented on his reported presidential ambitions or made any public approval of Mnangagwa’s third term bid.
The closest he has ever been to such a comment was a sarcastic laugh he gave in response to a journalist who had door-stepped him at a recent public event in Bulawayo by asking his views on Mnangagwa’s 2030 agenda.
Neither has he ever commented on Geza’s brave confrontation of Mnangagwa.
