Scores of citizens have taken to the streets in Zimbabwe after President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced a 150% fuel price hike.<\/p>\n
Protesters barricaded roads and burned tires in the capital Harare on Monday, two days after Mnangagwa announced a massive fuel price hike in an effort to stem a deepening economic crisis.<\/p>\n
Cash shortages have plunged Zimbabwe’s economy into disarray, threatening widespread social unrest, undermining Mnangagwa’s efforts to win back foreign investors sidelined under his predecessor Robert Mugabe.<\/p>\n
Police fired teargas to disperse youths protesting outside the high court in Zimbabwe’s second city of Bulawayo, according to video footage from the Centre for Innovation and Technology, a local news service. Riot police in trucks patrolled downtown Harare while some shops remained closed.<\/p>\n
Mnangagwa’s announcement of a 150% increase in fuel prices was greeted with shock in Zimbabwe, where unemployment is estimated at 80%. The price was increased from US$1.34 for a litre of petrol to US$3.31 with diesel surging to US$3.11 per litre.<\/p>\n
The government sets fuel prices via the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Agency.<\/p>\n
Residents of Epworth, 36km south of the capital, protested after the main labour federation called for a three-day strike starting Monday in response to the price increase.<\/p>\n
The protests came just after doctors ended a 40-day strike in the country without coming to any terms.<\/p>\n
The Zimbabwean government issued a statement in response to the protests, labelling them Western-sponsored acts.<\/p>\n
“This brazenly unconstitutional plan, which has sought financial support from some regime-change organisations based in America and Germany, among other countries, represents a serious threat to our consolidating democracy, to the rule of law in our country, and to the authority of government and the state,” the statement said. – NNN<\/p>\n
South Africa Today – Africa News – Zimbabwe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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