Mugabe's banker confronted by angry protesters in SA

Mugabe's banker confronted by angry protesters in SA

GONO: Confronted by angry protesters

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By Agencies

CHAOS erupted at a meeting called by Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank governor in South Africa when opposition supporters shouted him down and pelted the stage with missiles, prompting police to call in reinforcements.

Gideon Gono was to address a meeting of Zimbabweans living in South Africa to explain a new plan for expatriates to send home much-needed foreign currency, but was heckled off stage by some 200 supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Called the "Homelink", the plan is mooted as a way for Zimbabweans living abroad to send home money to relatives through government channels, bringing foreign currency back into the southern African country, which is hit by spiralling inflation and huge foreign debts.

Gono, who is spearheading a bid to revive Zimbabwe's crises-ridden economy, did not get a chance to speak after taking the podium at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, north of Johannesburg.

The MDC supporters, many of them wearing T-shirts scrawled with the slogan "Mugabe must go", rushed the stage as Gono started to speak, waving placards and shouting: "Go home, go home."

"We don't support this scheme at all," MDC district chairman Jabulani Mkwanazi told AFP before the meeting started.

"Why give money when we have no input into what is happening in the country," he said.

Earlier this month a Zimbabwean court turned down a petition by the MDC to have the 2002 presidential elections -- which saw long-time President Robert Mugabe return to power -- declared null and void.

The election results were largely condemned by Western observer groups for violence and vote-rigging.

"Please, you have made your point. Now please sit down," Gono told the rowdy crowd, who pelted the stage with Homelink caps, T-shirts and even salt shakers grabbed from meeting room tables.

The half dozen police officers present called in reinforcements after they failed to control the crowd, which jeered Gono as he left after a short discussion with Zimbabwe's high commissioner to South Africa, Simon Khaya-Moyo.

"This is a rent-a-crowd. This meeting is non-political and these hooligans (the MDC) are making it political," Khaya-Moyo told AFP.

"Most people here just wanted to come and listen to what it is all about," he said.

The MDC supporters were eventually escorted off the premises by about 30 policemen. No arrests were made, according to a senior officer, who asked not to be named.

Gono's visit to South Africa followed top-level meetings last week with International Monetary Fund officials in Washington, as well as expatriates in London and other British cities, to ask them to send money through government channels.

The visits were marked by protests from exiled Zimbabweans who accused Gono of raising cash to prop up Mugabe's "collapsing" regime, local media reports said this week - AFP
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