Is it really 'business as usual' in Zimbabwe?

DW (English)

The planned March 31 nationwide anti-government street protests failed to materialize. Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF party and state-controlled media stressed that it was "business as usual." However, many who witnessed the ousting of Robert Mugabe in 2017 are wary of the facade of normality, and they're now being force-fed.

Transcript

00:00March 31 has been built as a day of mass protest over President Emerson Mnangagwa's corruption-tainted

00:06government in Zimbabwe, the unresolved economic crisis and suspicion that he wants the Kling

00:12to par.

00:13But when most citizens opted to stay at home, the ruling ZANU-PF party and state-run media

00:17began spinning one common narrative meant to illustrate public disinterest in a campaign

00:23to force Mnangagwa from office.

00:25No, there's no stay away.

00:27All these are vaguards, those are buses, those are companies, it's business as usual.

00:32Can anyone who remembers the vile abnormality that ZANU-PF officials tried to concoct when

00:37Robert Mugabe was ousted even buy into that narrative?

00:42Welcome to the Flipside.

00:43The call for the March 31 protest came from inside the house, Mnangagwa's ruling ZANU-PF

00:49party.

00:50The man behind it's an independence-era war veteran, booted out of the party and its

00:55central committee at the start of the month.

00:57We're covering blessed Geza bombshell.

00:59The government says the anti-Mnangagwa agitator would growing online clout is just another

01:04criminally inclined individual who is inciting people.

01:08But there are signs of broad bipartisan support for his March 31st movement.

01:13So why did Geza's call to protest gain a little traction?

01:17I think the people of Zimbabwe cannot protest because the fear of being killed or abducted

01:26and we find that the security forces are all out in full force to defend the government.

01:33Before March 31st, Mnangagwa had moved swiftly not only to expel Geza from the party but

01:39also deploy security forces countrywide and change army chiefs.

01:43Geza went into hiding and a journalist he spoke to was arrested, leaving many more running

01:47scared.

01:48Meanwhile, Zimbabweans living in South Africa protested quite openly on March 31st, warning

01:54Mnangagwa to refrain from exceeding a two-term limit.

01:58So it's really not business as usual in Zimbabwe now, is it?

02:01March 31st to March 2025 was not as business as usual in Zimbabwe.

02:10It was a successful stay away by the people of Zimbabwe.

02:15Those who bravely stepped out onto Zimbabwe's streets now face legal consequences.

02:19In the diaspora, there's a little more room for free speech.

02:22A little over seven years ago, ZANU-PF maintained a bizarre facade of normalcy.

02:28As Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF rivals pushed him from power, the military already had the

02:34elderly leader under house arrest.

02:36The atmosphere was tense, but officially, it was business as usual.

02:40Even Mugabe appeared at a university graduation ceremony, posing for the cameras and soaking

02:45up applause.

02:46Then the masses rallied behind the army.

02:51War veterans were critical in organizing the masses.

02:56And members of the opposition were involved.

03:00Mnangagwa came to power in that bond coup.

03:03Now, it's war veterans like Geza who want Mnangagwa to go.

03:07And Zimbabweans are afraid to express their views openly.

03:11So of Geza, I think it will be just the same.

03:16I don't think they'll bring any change.

03:18So it's a matter of changing the bus, but the driver is, I'm trying to say, changing

03:29the driver, but the bus is still the same.

03:31And that's the flip side.

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