Zimbabweans opt for silence over protests: A day of defiance amid government assurances

Zimbabweans across the country decided not to heed calls of mass protests or to listen to government assurances of public safety and chose to stay at home yesterday, when they had been urged to engage in mass public dissent.

In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second biggest city, major businesses including banks and supermarket retailers only opened well after mid-morning. Most small businesses did not open at all as people failed to turn up due to a lack of public transport from the townships into the city, as most commuter taxis were not operating.

The situation was the same in cities and towns across the country, with the police maintaining a strong presence including having roadblocks on major roads that connect cities and towns with townships and patrolling in vehicles and on horseback.

Despite exhortations to carry on as usual and warnings by authorities to ensure schools remained open, classrooms at public schools around the city were empty as parents kept their children home.

In Pumula South, one of the furthest townships from Bulawayo’s central business district, a nursing aid who asked to be identified only as Ms Ndlovu, employed at one of the city’s two public hospitals, told Daily Maverick that she had to walk nearly a kilometre to catch the government bus that ferries public service workers to and from work.

“I normally catch the bus close to my home, but today it wouldn’t come to the usual pick-up point. I would have stayed at home but we were warned to report for duty or risk having our salaries docked,” Ndlovu said yesterday.

Blessed Geza, a war veteran and recently expelled central committee member of the ruling Zanu-PF party, had called for nationwide demonstrations on 31 March in order to oust president Emmerson Mnangagwa whom he blames for the country’s unrelenting economic problems, as well as for allegedly seeking to extend his stay in office beyond 2028 when his second five-year term as president is set to end.

According to Zimbabwe’s constitution, the country’s president serves a maximum of two five-year terms and then leaves office, but there has been a faction within the ruling Zanu-PF that is pushing for Mnangagwa to go beyond 2028. This, along with economic challenges and rampant corruption, has displeased many Zimbabweans with whom Geza’s statements – shared via YouTube – have resonated. Geza, also known as ‘Bombshell’, came to prominence following a series of hard-hitting interviews that he conducted with an online radio and television station in which he castigated Mnangagwa and his government. Geza is now in hiding, while the journalist who interviewed him, Blessed Mhlanga, is in prison awaiting trial for allegedly spreading information likely to cause violence.

Arthur Chikerema, a development studies and conflict management university lecturer, told Daily Maverick that although people had not heeded the call to demonstrate, their decision to stay at home was “a victory” for Geza.

“It’s not only the economy that the people are concerned about, but an erosion of democracy, as well as general misgovernance including endemic corruption. What Geza has been saying resonates well with the people, but they know the heavy-handedness with which the state has dealt with previous demonstrations, so it is not surprising that they stayed at home. Whichever way one looks at it, this is a victory for Geza because people did not act on government warnings and guarantees of public safety,” Chikerema said. Former Zanu-PF member of parliament and central committee member Joseph Tshuma told Daily Maverick that Zimbabweans had shown that they wanted peace, and that it was necessary for the nation to have a dialogue.

“Whether one is for the 2030 agenda or against it, it is the constitutional right of either party to express and push for its desire in a peaceful manner; there is no need to play a cat and mouse game against each other, but rather to engage each other in a civilised manner without resorting to violence,” Tshuma said.

In the aftermath of Monday’s massive stayaway, Geza’s next move now remains to be seen.

Unlike past protests that have been organised by the opposition and individuals like Evan Mawarire of #ThisFlag fame, it has not been clear whether Geza is acting on his own or has backers.

Speculation is rife that he has the sympathies of co-vice president Constantino Chiwenga and other disgruntled Zanu-PF members, although the former has never publicly supported him.

Some have dismissed Geza as not genuinely representing the people’s concerns, arguing that he is a mere front of the usual factional fights within Zanu-PF.

“With Zimbabwe’s opposition in limbo, Geza may have become the unwitting voice of a disgruntled citizenry that is desperate for astute leadership and change, and he may be the catalyst for that change,” said Chikerema.

• DM