Zimbabweans reluctant to join MDC-T protests

THE opposition MDC-T party on Tuesday said the main reason why demonstrations against the government have flopped in the past is because most Zimbabweans were too risk averse.

Speaking at a Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) public meeting on electoral processes in Harare, MDC-T spokesman, Douglas Mwonzora, said Zimbabweans were generally reluctant to join his party's protest programmes.

"I have always been impressed by the genius of the Zimbabwean person. In fact there are cleverer Zimbabweans outside politics than they are in politics. Only that those outside politics are too risk averse," Mwonzora said.

According to NewZimbabwe.com, the former Nyanga North MP said the protests his party had initiated in July this year were not meant to overthrow President Robert Mugabe's government but to force it to realise that something is wrong and needed to be addressed.

"It is only in Zimbabwe where the ruled are afraid of the rulers and therefore the rulers do not have any pressure at all. We must begin to apply pressure on the rulers and the pressure must be credible," he said.

The MDC-T has since July embarked on job protests to force the government to provide the 2.2 million jobs Mugabe promised during last year's election campaign.

The demonstrations have been violently put down by the police. Nine members of the party's youth wing were arrested last month and are still in custody.

The protests, which have been poorly attended, have received a lukewarm reception from most Zimbabweans who appear only keen to watch from the side-lines.