Thirty-four people were arrested in Zimbabwe this week after food riots in two area, including a riot in front of a grain depot at Zimbabwe’s second-largest city.
If you’re a second rate dictator with a famine and food riots on your hands, how do you deal with it? By arresting the opposition mayor of Harare, Zimbabwe’s largest city. (If you had a different idea in mind, you probably need to brush up on remedial dictation).
The mayor was charged with holding a public meeting to discuss municipal issues. In Zimbabwe it is illegal to hold a public meeting without getting prior approval from the state.
If only Mugabe was as good at provisioning food as he is at wrecking Zimbabwe’s democracy.
Source:
Zimbabwean Opposition Politician Detained By Police. VOA News, 11 Jan 2003.
Food Riots ‘A Sign of More to Come’. Financial Gazette (Harare, Zimbabwe), January 9, 2003.