Cracks widen in Mugabe regime as soldiers riot over shortage of cash

[Bozita]

Source: Guardian, UK

Cracks widen in Mugabe regime as soldiers riot over shortage of cash
Alex Duval Smith, Africa correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday November 30 2008 00.01 GMT
The Observer, Sunday November 30 2008


In a significant setback to Robert Mugabe's regime, uniformed soldiers have for the first time rioted in the centre of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, after trying to withdraw cash from a bank that had run out of money.

Emerging details of the riots will embolden Zimbabweans ahead of protests planned for Wednesday by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions against a government policy that stops people from drawing more than 500,000 Zimbabwe dollars (18p) from banks per day. The rioting marks the first time the low morale of the rank-and-file has exploded into public violence.

Witnesses said about 70 soldiers, believed to be from Harare's main KG6 barracks, turned violent after spending Thursday queuing at the main branch of the Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group. 'They stayed in the banking hall at closing time,' a staff member said. 'At about 4.30pm we told them there would be no money, and they ran amok. They insulted the staff, then went outside and smashed the windows.'

The group moved on to Roodepoort bus station, a few blocks away, where they assaulted black-market currency dealers and robbed them.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/30/zimbabwe-ri...

[bemildred]

1. Aw, damn, are the mercenaries not happy?

Does Robert have his exit strategy in place?

[gratuitous]

3. Always pay the mercenaries first

Boy, that's a rookie mistake you wouldn't expect an old pro like Mugabe to make.

[noonwitch]

4. I think Mugabe is not the old pro he used to be

He's so obviously gone crazy over the past decade or so, that I'm surprised the army has backed him this long.

[Nihil]

2. Wow! 18p per day?!

> ... a government policy that stops people from drawing more than
> 500,000 Zimbabwe dollars (18p) from banks per day



Fancy having a max withdrawal limit of less than 25c per day?!

[ohio2007]

7. Zimbabwe's "official" inflation annual rate is estimated at 231 million per cent, but

independent economists cite the inflation rate in the billions of per cent. The 18p maximum account withdrawal buys a quarter of a loaf of bread and thousands of people spend their days in bank queues.
to bad they don't have an oil spigot they could nationalize.
Well, now isn't the time to be an oil exporter so they will have to remain in an alternate reality kind of situation

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. Sounds like they don't have enough printing presses in that country to

print enough currency to keep up with inflation.

[Posteritatis]

8. Of course, if they did, they'd have even more inflation (nt)

[Robbien]

6. Are these the same soldiers who fired on the crowds of citizens

who were rioting in front of the banks earlier in the year when banks stayed closed for days.