Things are deteriorating rapidly in Zimbabwe, home of the dictator thug, Robert Mugabe. Rigging an election to stay in power is fine, I suppose, if you deliver something to the people of your country. If not, people may use undemocratic means to get rid of your ass.
Mutambara, chosen last February to head the faction that broke ranks with MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai last October after disagreeing on how to unseat Mugabe, appeared to endorse Tsvangirai's calls for mass revolt, saying he and his group were not afraid to "engage in confrontation" against the government.
"We are saying to Mugabe change the way you are doing things, if you don't change immediately, you are creating a revolution and we are presenting ourselves as leaders of this revolution," Mutambara told about 200 supporters at Mount Pleasant hall near the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) in Harare on Tuesday night.
He added: "We are not afraid to engage in confrontation through democratic resistance. If jambanja (protests) does not work we have other plans, Plan B, Plan C, Plan D and so on and so forth."
The problem here is that the economic conditions in the country, once the breadbasket of Africa, have gone code red.
"For many people, especially in the urban areas, life has become unaffordable and unbearable and these people are waiting to vent their anger through mass demonstrations," said Makumbe, a critic of the government.
The government, while acknowledging the economic crisis, says it remains optimistic but in private officials say rising prices and unemployment above 70 percent are stoking anger, especially in cities.
Last week Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate, measured through the consumer price index (CPI), jumped to 913.6 percent for the year to March from 782 percent in February.
Experts expect the rate to soar way over 1,000 percent by mid-year and Zimbabwe also faces shortages of fuel, food and foreign currency and breaking sewerage systems, power and water cuts, uncollected domestic garbage and deteriorating roads.
It amounts to the worst economic situation since Mugabe led the country to independence from Britain in 1980 and the time when Zimbabwe was one of Africa's most prosperous states is a distant memory, political and economic analysts say.
Mugabe, for his part, is not one to take threats to his position lightly
The Zimbabwe government hinted at ordering the security forces to shoot citizens who heeded calls by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to join mass protests pushing for political reforms.
Powerful State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who is also in charge of the spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), reminded Zimbabweans that the ruling Zanu-PF party had "shed blood before" to liberate the country from colonialism and would not hesitate to do so again to maintain its grip on power.
Mutasa's remarks came shortly after President Robert Mugabe himself vowed to kill Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change, if he proceeded with plans for mass action.
But a defiant Tsvangirai said he was prepared to die to free Zimbabwe from Mugabe's dictatorship.
"Mugabe, 82, warned Tsvangirai he would be "dicing with death" if he tries to use protests to drive him from power but officials sources said the government was worried and working on plans to clamp down on the opposition."
All of which sets the stage for more bloodshed in Africa.
