Protest walk a 'cheap stunt'
2005-09-19 16:55
Special Report
A new team has been appointed to monitor Zimbabwe's troubled unity government, ending former president Thabo Mbeki's mediation role, President Jacob Zuma's office has announced.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says he doesn't expect the US sanctions on his country to be lifted soon.
Harare - A Zimbabwe government official has accused opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of staging a "cheap publicity stunt" after he decided to walk to work to protest fuel shortages.
Information and publicity deputy minister Bright Matonga told the state-controlled Herald newspaper Tsvangirai didn't walk all the way to his office when he launched the protest walk on Friday.
"We were monitoring his movements and he did not walk all the way to work," the newspaper quoted Matonga on Monday.
"He only walked a short distance for photographs, before boarding his red fuel-guzzling truck."
Lack of fuel
Tsvangirai walked to work again on Monday, said his spokesperson William Bango, adding he would continue walking to work "for as long as he does not have fuel".
The opposition leader walks 8km from his home in Strathaven suburb to the central business district, Bango said.
"Apart from demonstrating his revulsion at government failure to resolve the fuel crisis, he is genuinely without fuel," Bango said.
Zimbabwe has faced serious fuel shortages since 1999, but some experts say the current crunch, which has seen meandering queues at gas stations, is the worst ever.
Some gas stations have been without fuel for weeks, forcing buses and private cars off the road and leaving many with no option but to walk or cycle to their workplaces.
The privately-owned Daily Mirror said most gas stations in Harare have gone for more than a month without receiving supplies while the once-burgeoning black market had also dried up.
- AFP