Chamisa should now take Mnangagwa head-on

Nearly a year ago, on Nov. 21, the Zimbabwean armed force, toppled ex-President Mugabe from power, after a week of attempts to coerce him to resign from the presidency. The coup surprised many observers, as the armed forces had long supported Mugabe's tenure. Afterward, the coup plotters tried to convince observers, both at home and internationally, that it wasn't in fact a coup. Rather, their aim was to fix what they saw as Zimbabwe's deteriorating political, social and economic conditions,

The opposition MDC pleaded with the police to sanction their demonstration set for the 16th of August to be held in the streets of Harare. Police shockingly did not have a hard time clearing the demonstration. Among the main reasons for the ‘Mother of all Demos' in the capital soon, includes massive corruption in government, power shortages, unemployment and failure to implement genuine political reforms as well as others. Zimbabwe is at a boiling point that only violent demonstrations can yield change.

DEMOSTATIONS IN SUDAN (2019)

Omar Hassan al-Bashir's downfall, did not come with the flying bullets or middle of the-night escapes many expected from a leader who survived numerous past crises. Instead, his ouster was precipitated by the biggest peaceful demonstrations in a generation culminating in a vast sit-in attended by hundreds of thousands in the capital, Khartoum.

The takeover in Sudan capped a season of protest and political churn in North Africa recalling the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings that toppled autocratic leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. In Algeria, protests that started in February forced North Africa's longest serving leader, Abdul-Aziz Bouteflika, out of power this month. But amid the euphoria in Algeria and Sudan, demonstrators have appeared more keenly aware of the looming dangers than their counterparts eight years earlier, vowing to remain in the streets until their broad array of demands are met.

DEMOSTRATIONS IN ALGERIA (2019)

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, bowed to weeks of mass demonstrations and resigned, abruptly ending two decades in power. The 82-year-old leader announced his resignation on Tuesday night in a brief message that said he had "notified the president of the constitutional council of his decision to end his mandate". His resignation triggered a 90-day caretaker presidency by the chairman of the upper house of parliament, Abd-el-Kader Bensalem, until elections are held.

DEMOSTRATIONS IN BURKINA FASO (2014)

Opposition to President Blaise Compaore's plans to extend his near-30 year rule turned violent as a blaze rips through the National Assembly building in Ouagadougou. Angry demonstrators in Burkina Faso went on the rampage in 2014, in protest at plans to allow President Blaise Compaore to extend his 27-year rule, setting parliament on fire and wreaking havoc across the capital. Crowds of people broke through a heavy security cordon and stormed the National Assembly building in Ouagadougou, ransacking offices and setting fire to cars. After the protestors had blazed the Parliament ex-President Compare had to resign and flee into exile in Ivory Coast.

It is without doubt that political demonstrations have been yielding results across the African continent and with the recent announcement by Job Sikhala that they had given Mnangagwa two weeks to negotiate power it is now up to the people of Zimbabwe to heed the call of the main opposition party and follow the steps of what happened in other African countries.

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Knowledge Hakata can be contacted on waterlessprings@gmail.com of knowledgehakata@yahoo.com