Source: Commonwealth must demand reform – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary: 12th November 2022
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/52496966306/sizes/m/
As the government readies itself to receive a Commonwealth delegation to assess Zimbabwe’s application to rejoin the Commonwealth, the National Housing and Social Amenities minister Daniel Garwe made it clear exactly why the delegation might as well go straight home.
Garwe, who is also Zanu PF’s provincial chairman for Mashonaland East, told supporters at Seke that the ruling party will do anything to ensure President Mnangagwa is re-elected next year. ‘Courts, military and police belong to Zanu PF; even health workers belong to Zanu PF. Actually we own almost everything’. Garwe added: ‘ We are preparing a whip for all those who insult Mnangagwa as we are preparing for our 2023 elections. Don’t keep quiet if someone insults your President, we have to fight back and defend him.’
The executive director of the Zimbabwe Election Advocacy Trust, Ignatious Sadziwa, condemned the inflammatory remarks and said Garwe must be censured. ‘It’s sad that we have political party rogue elements that fan violence with impunity.’ He added: ‘We can’t have free and fair elections amid such violence and squalor. Violence has no place in a constitutional democracy like Zimbabwe.’
Garwe’s comments came as the country has seen an increase in political violence across all provinces. The director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project Jestina Mukoko said: ‘Signs on the ground do not point to free and fair elections. Of greatest concern is the importation of violence by the ruling party. The ruling party is finding it difficult to cut through, hence they will have to use force against citizens.’
Predictably, the Zanu PF information director, Tafadzwa Mugwadi, accused opposition parties and civil society organisations of cooking up stories on political violence. He said the opposition had been faking victimhood to solicit undeserved sympathy since 1999. (See: https://www.newsday.co.zw/local-news/article/200003431/courts-security-forces-belong-to-zanu-pf-minister.)
At the Vigil’s regular demonstrations outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London we have been carrying a petition urging the Commonwealth not to readmit Zimbabwe until the Zanu PF regime makes real reforms. The Commonwealth Secretariat says it wants to see democracy and peace in countries joining the organisation. It is doubtful the current delegation will find evidence to support this (see: https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-press+release-byo-225285.html).
They will hopefully meet opposition MP Godfrey Sithole who has at last been granted bail after some 150 days in prison without trial. They should insist on also meeting his colleague Job Sikhala still incarcerated in the Chikarubi maximum security prison. They should demand that he also be released or immediately brought to trial (see: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/zimbabwe-opposition-leader-released-on-bail-after-150-days-in-prison/2734820).
Other points
- The electoral watchdog Election Resource Centre has given the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission a seven-day ultimatum to provide it with an electronic cope of the voters’ roll or face legal action. Earlier the Electoral Commission offered to supply a hard copy of the roll but said it would cost US$187,238 (see: https://www.newsday.co.zw/local-news/article/200003313/voters-roll-zec-given-7-day-ultimatum).
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Events and Notices:
- Next Vigil meeting outside the Zimbabwe Embassy. Saturday 19th November from 2 – 5 pm. We meet on the first and third Saturdays of every month. On other Saturdays the virtual Vigil will run.
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- The Vigil’s book ‘Zimbabwe Emergency’ is based on our weekly diaries. It records how events in Zimbabwe have unfolded as seen by the diaspora in the UK. It chronicles the economic disintegration, violence, growing oppression and political manoeuvring – and the tragic human cost involved. It is available at the Vigil. All proceeds go to the Vigil and our sister organisation the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe’s work in Zimbabwe. The book is also available from Amazon.
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