By James Gwati – Zimbabwe enters the second day of the national shutdown called by war veterans, with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime intensifying surveillance and security operations following a highly effective first day of the same yesterday.
Business was low on Tuesday, with streets in major cities, including Harare, Bulawayo, and Gweru, eerily empty as the shutdown took hold.
Most shops, informal markets, and even some government departments were closed, with many citizens heeding the call to stay home in protest against corruption, economic collapse, and worsening repression.
Observers described the shutdown as one of the successful acts of civil disobedience in recent years, despite the state’sheavy-handed attempts to crush it.
Security forces, including plainclothes intelligence operatives and riot police, were deployed across Central Business Districts (CBDs), and they interrogated pedestrians and monitored movements.
In Harare, riot police were visibly stationed at key intersections, bus termini, and shopping areas in anticipation of unrest that never materialized—thanks to the silent but effective protest.
The government’s response did not stop at surveillance.
Over 100 political activists remain in detention following a wave of arrests last month linked to growing dissent and preemptive action against protest organizers.
The detainees have been denied bail and access to legal counsel, raising alarm among international rights watchdogs.
Among the latest victims of the state’s security clampdown is opposition activist Godfrey Karembera, popularly known as Madzibaba veShanduko, a prominent ally of opposition leader Nelson Chamisa and a vocal critic of the Mnangagwa administration.
Early Tuesday morning—hours after the shutdown began—Karembera’s Harare home was petrol-bombed by unknown assailants. His teenage son was critically injured in the attack and is currently hospitalized with life-threatening burns.
The home was largely destroyed in the blaze.
Multiple sources told ZimEye that the attack appeared to be a politically motivated act of intimidation.
It is believed the perpetrators—suspected to be ruling party loyalists—targeted Karembera over his perceived capacity to mobilize citizens in support of Cde Geza’s shutdown call.
For years, Madzibaba veShanduko has been a symbol of peaceful resistance, donning white religious garb as he leads protests and public prayers denouncing state brutality.
He has previously been arrested, tortured, and harassed for his activism. But this petrol bombing, insiders say, marks a sinister escalation in efforts to silence dissenting voices.
Cde Geza, who called for the two-day shutdown, is a former liberation war fighter who has emerged as a new face of protest politics in Zimbabwe.
His message—a mix of populist rhetoric and liberation-era patriotism—has struck a chord with frustrated citizens, particularly the unemployed youth and some disillusioned veterans within the security sector.
His demand? For President Mnangagwa to step down amid economic ruin and political decay.
Despite the government’s threats, arrests, and increased deployment of security agents, Geza’s call has shaken the ruling elite—demonstrating the depth of public frustration and the state’s growing loss of legitimacy.
Human rights organizations are now urging an independent investigation into the attack on Karembera’s home and a full audit of the ongoing political detentions.
They warn that the current trajectory—marked by state violence, fear, and repression—risks plunging Zimbabwe into a deeper crisis.
“The Mnangagwa government must choose between reform and repression,” said one Harare-based rights lawyer.“Crushing peaceful dissent only adds fuel to the fire.”
As Wednesday—the final day of the shutdown—unfolds, all eyes remain on Zimbabwe’s streets, now guarded by riot police but filled with the quiet defiance of an angry and fearful nation.