Wednesday, December 2, 1998 Published at 12:47 GMT
Mugabe faces economic anger
Lack of custom forces businesses to close early
By Africa Correspondent Jane Standley
Zimbabwe's trade unions have been putting pressure on the increasingly unpopular government of President Robert Mugabe.
People are asking if President Mugabe - Zimbabwe's leader for all its 18 years of independence - may be about to lose power.
Business is not booming
With inflation at 40% and interest rates at 50%, customers in the capital Harare's poor townships are bitter and frustrated.
The Zimbabwean dollar has collapsed. People can afford little. They are sewing clothes instead of buying. Many are walking to work.
The price of petrol has gone up 67% this month.
Fury at the handling of Zimbabwe's worst ever economic crisis is boiling over.
Massive rises in food prices have triggered violence, catching the government by surprise. It thought the harsh security services had forced people into submission.
Anger at government
President Robert Mugabe still has almost autocratic power. But his people are tired of corruption and nepotism.
Donor nations are withholding funds. They are critical of proposals to seize land from white farmers.
"The international community must mind its own business," says government minister Chen Chimutengwende.
"What is happening in this country does happen to many countries. What we have is a problem and we have to deal with it like any other country," he says.
Trade unions gain momentum
Strikes have become the people's way of dealing with their problems. The trade unions are taking on the government in the absence of credible political opposition.
"Everyone has accepted that the old generation has played its part and it is time for them to pack up. There is nothing more they can offer, no new visions to push the country forward," Mr Tsvangirai says.
It is not surprising that Robert Mugabe's old adversary, Ian Smith - former Rhodesian Prime Minister - is also calling for change.
He says the economy has declined even more than he had predicted.
The anger and disillusionment in the townships is, for the moment, containable. But the economic crisis is fuelling demands for change, rarely heard from Zimbabweans before.
An increasingly remote government and the lack of a viable political alternative makes it difficult, though, to see where the change would come from.