Zimbabwe remained on edge on Monday following a violent crackdown on protests over the country’s mounting economic crisis, with President Emmerson Mnangagwa set to return home after cutting short an overseas trip to deal with the tensions and continuing arrests of protesters.
Witnesses reported that Harare, the capital, was largely calm but that soldiers remained on the streets. Security forces were still detaining activists, including Japhet Moyo, secretary-general of Zimbabwe’s trade union congress, whose call for a three-day strike over fuel prices partly inspired last week’s protests.
Meanwhile, speculation swirled over an attempt by members of Mr Mnangagwa’s Zanu-PF party to oust him from office.
Mnangagwa loyalists in the ruling party said unnamed opponents had failed to muster the numbers needed to unseat him in an impeachment motion.
“They threatened to kill me and my family . . . the plot is foiled, they lack numbers for impeachment,” Justice Mayor Wadyajena, an MP and ally of Mr Mnangagwa, said.
Terence Mukupe, another loyalist Zanu-PF MP, said: “Come get me and do as you please but my president is not going anywhere.”
The president said on Sunday he would cancel his planned visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos this week to return home early “in light of the economic situation”. Zimbabwe faces a crippling shortage of US dollars, and the doubling of fuel prices overnight earlier this month exploded into days of mass demonstrations.
“The first priority is to get Zimbabwe calm, stable and working again,” he said.
Mr Mnangagwa set out to use his overseas trip to promote his message that “Zimbabwe is open for business”, made after he replaced Robert Mugabe, the longtime former leader, following a 2017 coup.
But there are growing signs of a split within his party, and in the security forces that helped him to power, over the fallout from days of beatings and arrests carried out by soldiers against opposition and civic activists.
NGOs have called the so-called “days of darkness” the worst state violence since the Mugabe era. They say at least 12 people have been killed and hundreds detained during the protests as soldiers, police and Zanu-PF youth militia roved cities under cover of an internet blackout.
Zimbabwe’s biggest opposition party, the MDC Alliance, said that at least six of its legislators had been detained.
The crackdown has been overseen by Constantino Chiwenga, Mr Mnangagwa’s deputy and who has significant influence as the former army commander who led the 2017 coup. There have long been rumours of a split between the two men over divergent business interests. They have denied tensions.
The alleged impeachment threat comes six months after Mr Mnangagwa was declared the victor in presidential elections that were marred by post-election violence. He won with just over 50 per cent of the vote.
The 2017 coup ended when Mr Mugabe resigned from office just before Zanu-PF MPs were about to impeach him.
Analysts say a significant number of Zanu-PF legislators are in constituencies where Mr Mnangagwa struggled to win a presidential majority — potentially leaving them less loyal to him.
Some allies of Mr Mnangagwa have also referred to the alleged “capture” of state institutions by a fuel cartel opposed to the reopening of the economy.
“The situation is getting more extreme, particularly given the posturing that we’re seeing from Zanu-PF and the state,” Piers Pigou, an analyst with International Crisis Group said.
Zimbabwe’s high court on Monday overturned the internet blackout. The decision “means that mobile network operators and Internet service providers should restore full internet access including access to social media applications and websites,” the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa said.
Social media were severely restricted as last week’s violent crackdown gathered pace, with activists accusing the government of seeking to cover up evidence of abuses.
Econet, Zimbabwe’s largest telecoms company, said it had been forced to comply with the government’s shutdown order.
