Zimbabwe now a regional security threat, claims Chamisa's MDC

Zimbabwe is fast degenerating into a regional security threat as its economic situation worsens, the opposition MDC party said yesterday and announced plans for more demonstrations against government.

Last week, the party petitioned the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) and African Union (AU) to intervene to stop the situation from worsening and spokesperson Jacob Mafume said more needed to be done to bring Zimbabwe's situation under control.

"We will go on a regional offensive in the Sadc region whereby we will definitely discuss with regional leaders about the situation in Zimbabwe," Mafume said.

"The economy is deteriorating and it will become a security threat to the whole region. We believe the leadership in the region; in particular, the Namibian President [Hage Geingob] must be seized with this matter as he is currently the head of Sadc.

The MDC spokesperson said they resolved to take their demonstrations out of Harare as their supporters from outside the capital are also calling on the party leadership to help them register their dissatisfaction with the country's state of affairs.

"The party resolved to embark on a series of actions in all towns within the country. We will do demonstrations similar to those that we had in Harare; people outside Harare want to express themselves. This will be done before the Christmas break."

Mafume said the party had also discussed the recently concluded commission of inquiry into the post-election violence of August 1, in which the military allegedly killed six civilians, headed by former South Africa President Kgalema Motlanthe.

Conflicting statements coming from government and the commission itself raised questions about the credibility of its report, he added.

"(The commission)'s results are now taking the form and nature of the Zec results – at some point they say it's a full report while on another they say there is no report and we are now worried that the report will be doctored should it come out. There are now too many speaking for that commission, one George Charamba (Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet) and the commission is also speaking on its own behalf."

Mafume said there were no issues against MDC deputy president Elias Mudzuri despite a public humiliation at the party's demonstration last week. Mudzuri did not attend the meeting following a family bereavement, he said.