#ThisFlag protest leader, Evan Mawarire’s decision to seek refuge in South Africa over personal safety concerns is justified and will not quell revolution he has lit back home, analysts have said.
Mawarire left for South Africa two weeks ago after a Harare Magistrates’ Court declined to prosecute him on treason charges.
The cleric announced on Tuesday that he would remain in the neighbouring country for his personal safety after President Robert Mugabe declared him persona non grata for leading a campaign against perceived government misrule.
Political analyst, Alexander Rusero said Mawarire had done his part in demystifying Mugabe’s power and even if he stayed in South Africa, his contribution would remain indispensable. He said there was no struggle worth dying for.
“He (Mawarire) lit the fire and the forest will remain burning,” Rusero said.
“It’s the atmosphere he established in demystifying Mugabe’s power that will remain important. The extent to which government panicked shows how effective his campaign was. More Mawarires will come up. He is a Moses who led the Israelites out of Egypt, but a Joshua will come up to lead the Israelites to Canaan.”
Maxwell Saungweme, another analyst, said Mawarire had played his part and even if he stayed in South Africa, what he fought for would remain important and motivate the people to soldier on.
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Shopping Malls Construction On The Rise In Nigeria, South Africa On Decline
Construction of shopping malls in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is on the rise, while in South Africa development of new malls has tremendously declined.
Despite its large economy and high population – over 170 million people – the West African oil producing nation has lagged behind on the shopping mall construction craze that hit the continent over the last decade.
Nigeria has just a handful of formal shopping centers each with more than 10,000 square meters of leasable space. But that’s changing as several large malls are under construction.
The country has more than 100,000 square meters of leasable area in modern-format shopping centers and will be adding another 180,000 square meters of retail space by the end of 2016, according to a Broll Property Report.
By the end of last year, Nigeria had about a dozen Western-style shopping malls catering for people living in urban areas, The New York times reported.
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‘Mawarire relocation won’t quell revolution’
#ThisFlag protest leader, Evan Mawarire’s decision to seek refuge in South Africa over personal safety concerns is justified and will not quell revolution he has lit back home, analysts have said.
Mawarire left for South Africa two weeks ago after a Harare Magistrates’ Court declined to prosecute him on treason charges.
The cleric announced on Tuesday that he would remain in the neighbouring country for his personal safety after President Robert Mugabe declared him persona non grata for leading a campaign against perceived government misrule.
Political analyst, Alexander Rusero said Mawarire had done his part in demystifying Mugabe’s power and even if he stayed in South Africa, his contribution would remain indispensable. He said there was no struggle worth dying for.
“He (Mawarire) lit the fire and the forest will remain burning,” Rusero said.
“It’s the atmosphere he established in demystifying Mugabe’s power that will remain important. The extent to which government panicked shows how effective his campaign was. More Mawarires will come up. He is a Moses who led the Israelites out of Egypt, but a Joshua will come up to lead the Israelites to Canaan.”
Maxwell Saungweme, another analyst, said Mawarire had played his part and even if he stayed in South Africa, what he fought for would remain important and motivate the people to soldier on.
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Africa Unveils All-Africa Passport — But So Far Only 2 People Have One
What’s red and gold and hailed by most economists?
The new African Union passport, unveiled this week at the African Union Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, promises a solution to a major drag on African trade: the red tape that makes it harder for African businesspeople, tourists and workers to travel around their own continent.
More than half of the 54 African countries require entry visas for other Africans, according to the Africa Visa Openness Report.
Those visas can take days or weeks to apply for, and they make everything more difficult — from hiring foreign staff to traveling on a weekend safari to selling goods across borders.
Comrade Bob besieged
WHEN the presidential motorcade tears through the posh Borrowdale suburb where Robert Mugabe resides in Harare, all traffic still pulls onto the verge in reluctant deference to the despot. At 92 he is plainly bent on staying in power for as long as he lives. But nowadays the vendors hawking newspapers at the roadside, with Zimbabwean flags draped around their shoulders like superhero capes, are selling a different story. “Writing on the wall for Mugabe,” blares one independent newspaper’s headline. In the past few weeks a string of setbacks for the old man has increased the chances that his luck may finally be running out, even before he dies.
The most striking development is the sudden rise of a protest movement led by a previously unknown clergyman, Evan Mawarire, whose hashtag #ThisFlag has caught the nation’s imagination. His campaign, bolstered by the clever use of social media, has drawn support from churches and the middle class which had hitherto tended to steer clear of street politics. When Mr Mawarire, whose trademark is the Zimbabwean flag wrapped around himself, was arrested earlier this month, a large crowd, including many lawyers, converged on the court-house where he was being held, until he was freed amid triumphant cheers the next day. (More recently Mr Mawarire has found it wiser to stay in neighbouring South Africa.)
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