Zimbabwe women in pot-beating protest against Mugabe

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe: Hundreds of women in Zimbabwe on Saturday demonstrated against President Robert Mugabe’s government by beating pots, symbolising a nation facing starvation and economic hardships.

The march organised by the main opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), dubbed the #BeatThePot campaign, took place in Zimbabwe’s second largest city of Bulawayo.

"These pots that we are beating are no longer cooking anything at home this is why we brought them to say we no longer have anything to cook. We are starving," Thokozani Khupe, MDC vice president said while addressing women who took part in the march.

"What we are saying here is we are putting more fire on a pot that is already boiling.We want that pot to boil until Mugabe goes." "That is why we are saying please Mugabe you have failed, please go so that our lives can go own well,"she said.

The women who were clad in red party colours held up placards denouncing Mugabe.

They marched in the central business district of Bulawayo singing and beating pots with wooden and steel cooking utensils.

"Mugabe must go," they chanted whilst giving the MDC’s open palm symbol amidst a heavy anti-riot police presence.

The demonstration follows a series of protests across the country over Zimbabwe’s worsening economic crisis.

Evan Mawarire, a church pastor who started the popular ThisFlag internet protest campaign in April, organised a one-day nationwide strike last week that closed offices, shops, schools and some government departments.

He has called for more strikes after he was freed by the courts after being accused of plotting to overthrow Mugabe’s government.

Khupe appealed to the international community to intervene in Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis.

"Robert Mugabe and ruling party Zanu PF must step aside and allow a government that will be ushered in through free, fair credible elections,"said Khupe, who had a baby strapped on her back.

"We are going to repeat more of these until Mugabe leaves office, until the people of Zimbabwe are free. Enough is enough."

Zimbabwe is facing cash shortages and high unemployment while the government has been struggling to pay its workers.