via Zimbabwe Vigil UK Sunday, 18 August 2013 16:36
Supporters of the Vigil and associated groups have agreed to arrange an all-stakeholder meeting in London in October to give the diaspora an opportunity to discuss ways of working together to reclaim Zimbabwe.
The decision was made at the Zimbabwe Action Forum held after the regular Saturday Vigil outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London.
The Forum was addressed by Dewa Mavhinga, Senior Researcher for Africa with Human Rights Watch and a former regional co-ordinator for Southern Africa of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition. He was in Zimbabwe for the elections and gave us a firsthand account of how they were rigged. Mr Mavhinga, who has had meetings with the leadership of most SADC countries, said they had made it clear that, as long as the violence of 2008 was avoided, they would rubberstamp the election outcome.
The MDC, he said, had invested too much hope in SADC. ‘Zimbabweans must liberate themselves. You can’t sub-contract it. If you expect action from regional bodies you need action in Zimbabwe.’
Ephraim Tapa, head of ROHR Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Yes We Can Movement, said he’s been approached by several groups keen to join forces behind a diaspora initiative. It was hoped the all-stakeholder conference would create a broad-based movement with agreed values.
A co-ordinating team was set up to work on the logistics of the planned conference consisting of: Patrick Musami, Fungayi Mabhunu, Charles Dumisani Ndlovu, Nkosikona Tshabangu, Jonathan Kariwoh and David Kadzutu.
The meeting applauded the response by the poet Chenjerai Hove to an article congratulating Botswana for rejecting the results of the elections. Mr Hove said:’ Botswana is giving a great example in order to reject the notion that we have something called ‘free and fair elections by African standards.’ Why should Africans allow such a stupid claim which suggests that ‘African standards’ are okay for ‘these savages’ if they kill two hundred people instead of one million. We are not sub-humans who should be given a different set of electoral rules and justice. We cannot allow ourselves to be treated as ‘savages’ who don’t have to comply with simple and reasonable ideas of justice. If we accept to treat ourselves as sub-human, the rest of the world will treat us as rubbish. When are we going to demand the highest quality of everything as a people? Our governments allow the importation of Chinese zhing zhongs, cheap products which should be in the garbage dump because we treat ourselves as sub-standard human beings who are doomed to eat even rotten food.’
The forum agreed that the Vigil would deliver a letter to the Botswana High Commission in London next Saturday thanking President Khama for his brave and lonely support for credible, free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.
The meeting also challenged the MDC to refuse to take up their seats in Parliament – although there was a feeling that the more likely outcome would be that the MDC would throw in its lot with another Zanu PF-dominated GNU.
The meeting also urged the British government not to recognise the election results and, if necessary, suspend diplomatic relations and the UK’s aid of about £100 million a year.
During the Vigil, activist Martin Chinyanga laid flowers on the Embassy doorstep in tribute to 29-year-old Rebecca Mafukeni, an MDC activist who was arrested along with about 30 others over the alleged murder of a policeman and died recently in prison. He posted the following notice on the Embassy wall. ‘RIP Rebecca Mafukeni. May her soul rest in eternal peace. Arrested for a crime she never committed. Remanded in prison for two years as the state fails to determine her and her co-accused’s fate. In their innocence they lost out nearly three years of their freedom. Is this what the people of Zimbabwe voted for? Is this what the people of Zimbabwe deserve? We are deeply pained by the young people whose hopes, dreams and aspirations are dashed because old people do not want to give the way to the young to also learn and grow in wisdom, knowledge and experience. Your fight, Rebecca, remains our fight.’ Ephraim Tapa commented that this death was the fault of the whole of the inclusive government.
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil website.
FOR THE RECORD: 57 signed the register. EVENTS AND NOTICES:
– Vigil: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts– ZAF: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zimbabwe-Action-Forum-ZAF/490257051027515– ROHR: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ROHR-Zimbabwe-Restoration-of-Human-Rights/301811392835
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| Call for diaspora unity – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary: 10th August 2013 |
| Sunday, 11 August 2013 11:15 | |
There has been a call in London for a conference of the Zimbabwean diaspora to discuss the way forward following the rigged elections which have returned Mugabe to power for another term. The call came from Ephraim Tapa, President of the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) and a founder member of the Zimbabwe Vigil which has been protesting outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London every Saturday for the past eleven years in support of free and fair elections. Mr Tapa was speaking at a demonstration outside the Embassy on Saturday attended by exiled Zimbabweans from various parts of the UK, including members of the defeated MDC. He said that, following the stealing of the elections, people at home had lost faith in the politics of the ballot box. The MDC project had run its course and Zimbabweans were looking to the diaspora to come up with an alternative programme to save Zimbabwe. He said there were encouraging signs that the various Zimbabwean groups wanted to speak with one voice. A range of reactions to the rigged elections were expressed – from an angry call for revolution from activist Martin Chinyanga to the bitter tears of MDC official Makusha Mugabe. Another senior MDC official Elliot Pfebve, a defeated candidate in the elections, told the crowd of the various ways the voting had been manipulated. He said the people in Zimbabwe were in a desperate situation and looked to the diaspora for help but things ultimately depended on the people of Zimbabwe themselves. During the day hundreds more signatures were added to the Vigil’s petition which calls on President Zuma of South Africa to urge the Southern African Development Community to demand new elections. The plight of Zimbabwe has been spelt out in the demented ravings of Mugabe about the policy of indigenisation and empowerment. An article in the Herald quotes him as telling the first Politburo meeting after the elections ’ZANU-PF is going to deliver on promises made to the people during its highly subscribed and successful election campaign’. The Herald added ‘President Mugabe said Zimbabwe would precisely do the opposite of what the West wished for’ (see:https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/news/mugabe-says-hell-deliver-on-promises/ – Mugabe says he’ll deliver on promises). For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil website. FOR THE RECORD: around 100 signed the register. EVENTS AND NOTICES:
– Vigil: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts– ZAF: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zimbabwe-Action-Forum-ZAF/490257051027515– ROHR: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ROHR-Zimbabwe-Restoration-of-Human-Rights/301811392835
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