Press Statement from ROHR Zimbabwe
Diaspora, Statements — By admin on June 24, 2009 1:44 pmThe following is a press statement from Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe in response to our article: ‘UK asylum for £120, talk to ROHR Zimbabwe’
Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe is deeply disturbed by a vicious, hate-fuelled and well-orchestrated campaign by some UK-based Zimbabwean online newsites aimed at discrediting ROHR Zimbabwe as an organisation and the personal integrity of Ephraim Tapa, its President. Chief among these are Nehanda Radio, Zimdaily and ZimEye.
Articles on these newsites have accused ROHR Zimbabwe and its President of masterminding a spontaneous response from Zimbabweans to the Zimbabwe Prime Minister, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai’s call for Zimbabweans in the diaspora to ‘come back home’. ROHR Zimbabwe and its leadership wants to disassociate itself from these malicious accusations as they are baseless and outright falsehoods. We also want to state categorically that at no time did the organisation agree, let alone set an agenda to ridicule or disrupt the Southwark Cathedral meeting. Mr Tapa was not even at the meeting. We therefore dismiss the accusations with the contempt they deserve.
Why did the people boo the Prime Minister? Watching the online video clips, it is clear to see that the PM is loudly applauded at one point followed by a somewhat subdued reaction as he continues his speech, finally to be greeted by a spontaneous, deafening chorus of ‘Chinja!, Chinja! Mugabe must go!’ Truly this was not the work of Mr Ephraim Tapa or ROHR Zimbabwe and neither was it the work of its sister organisation, the Zimbabwe Vigil. To suggest so is to pour contempt on the conscience of the people of Zimbabwe whom we so respect.
To launch this campaign on so little evidence mean that elements in the Zimbabwean UK Diaspora must feel very threatened by us as our message continues to reasonate with not only those in the Diaspora but also the wider constituency within Zimbabwe. The issue is that Zimbabwe is still not safe to return for those who fled persecution and are in need of international protection.
ROHR Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Vigil does not apologise to anyone for our principled stance that ‘Mugabe Must Go’, our demand for democracy and justice, respect for the rule of law and the Restoration of Human Rights. It is interesting that groups like the Vigil and ROHR who are kept busy by real activism don’t have the time or inclination to decampaign other groups.
ROHR and its President have been accused of many other crimes in a campaign that dates back to 2007, when the MDC-UK & I Executive, then led by Ephraim Tapa, was dissolved unconstitutionally. At NO time was Mr Tapa ever EXPELLED from the MDC Chairmanship and for the record, he actually declined to stand the second time he was requested to do so. Then, the call was for the Party to uphold its founding principles – constitutional democracy, transparency, accountability and justice for all.
The ROHR President continues to cherish those values and, unlike some who have started glorifying Mr Mugabe with the advent of the inclusive government, continues to fight for GENUINE CHANGE. Whilst engaged in this struggle for human rights and notwithstanding his right to do so, Mr Ephraim Tapa does not for now have plans to seek any political office within any political party. And contrary to misleading theories being peddled by those who seek to detract from him, Mr Tapa harbours no rancour or vendetta against anyone within the MDC family.
The call NOW is for the inclusive government to address human rights concerns, uphold the rule of law and mete out justice to all those who perpetrated human rights abuses, including Robert Mugabe and his cronies. In its quest for these ideals, ROHR Zimbabwe has managed to create in three years a respectable national and international profile. Mindful of the suffering of Zimbabweans, ROHR Zimbabwe filed a lawsuit against Gono to remove cash withdrawal limits, mounted successful demonstrations in demand for justice and democracy, buried and cared for victims of the 2008 Mugabe terror campaign, provided basic necessities to vulnerable groups such as orphanages, the displaced, and disadvantaged school children, to name a few. We have registered a prominent presence in defence of human rights as we continue to operate legally in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United Kingdom. It seems ROHR Zimbabwe has become the victim of its success.
ROHR Zimbabwe runs offices in Zimbabwe, employs staff, runs programmes and assists on humanitarian causes, and like any other organisation, it needs money to do this. As a membership based organisation, ROHR Zimbabwe depends mainly on the support of its membership. Monthly subscriptions are decided and managed as per its constitution and members reserve the right to vary this and determine the direction of the organisation. As an international organisation, ROHR Zimbabwe operates within the legal framework of host countries. Membership is open to the willing and those who join do so of their free will.
ROHR Zimbabwe is not a refugee or asylum organisation – it does not have the power to regularise anyone’s stay in any given country. We believe that those in need of international protection can only base their claims on their personal / activist profiles. The 1951 Geneva Convention provides that individuals can be recognised as refugees if they establish a “well-founded fear of prosecution on grounds of race, nationality, religious, ethnical, political opinion or membership of a social group who are outside the country of their nationality and are unable or, owing to that fear, unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country”.
We are however aware that ROHR Zimbabwe members, their staff, supporters and activists have been persecuted under the Mugabe regime and still continue to face persecution, along with other human rights defenders, under the inclusive government. Therefore, whilst membership of ROHR Zimbabwe or participation at the Zimbabwe Vigil may be helpful, it is important that those who join us do so for what we do: defending and restoring human rights in Zimbabwe and not otherwise.
ROHR Zimbabwe will continue to stand by the people of Zimbabwe whatever it takes and will not allow itself to be distracted by hate-filled individuals hiding behind the facade of gutter journalism. ROHR Zimbabwe will never be silenced, especially not by merchants of hatred, jealousy and disunity.
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Tags: Ephraim Tapa, Restoration of Human Rights, ROHR, Zimbabwe Vigil
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18 Comments
But you are still taking advantage of desperate asylum seekers, that is the bottom line.
i thought as much………….
musaende kwavari kana zvichinetsa, just do your own stuff without them, problem solved don’t you think
Iyi statement inenge yadamburirwa iyi. Part inotaura nezvemari nenyaya dze asylum haipo apa. Maybe people can refer to zimbabwesituation.com where it is published in full.
Hey inszwa ka Mface. This asylum allegation is nothing but rubble. There is no organisation you join that will not require your supprt, wheter monetary or otherwise. It is very unethical for journalists to prey upon such petty matters and report them in order to gain readership.
If you use your artithmetic-acumen what is £120 over one year? It is only £10. Who cannot afford that every month, except those who do not work a all?
Efen if you were not paying anything, if you join a charity shop, your volunteary work and labour time amounts to schunks of thousands of pounds, far much greater than this paltry £10 you guys make crappy noise about.
Pamberi NeDiaspora!
This is a result of you all wanting to embarass and undermine the PM. Now the letters of asylum may be viewed with more suspicion than before. You shot yourselves in the foot. You think Tsvangirai is the only one who makes blunders, but you made a major one. May God help you
MDC_UK Used to charge £70 but due to cedit crunch RORH raised it to £120. The problem MDC-uk made people pay them Makuvise took the money and went to zimbabwe living people stranded without letters of recomendation
this has to be stoped these guys have robbed and stolen enough and some have taken sexual advatange of the vaulnerable women it is time to expose all of them yes we know of Tapa and Makuvise but surly they were not alone in this mess lets name and shame.
Thank you Nehandaradio for the platform now this is the democracy that we have been fighting for now those who behaved badly will be exposed.
Nehandaradio please start the ball rolling call on all your readers to name and Shame those involved in the ‘pay and we will support your claim scandal’
let us restore the rights of those who have been robbed, they have a right to be refunded…..
Us Zimbabwean will never change, thats why tisingabudirire.Why Can’t we support each other and why we enjoy to put each other down. Godo is our biggest disease in Zimbabwe { hanzi panext door vatenga masofa manyowani vakatisheedza kuti tione ende varikuvhaira} again vakasakukokayi zvaipa again. Zimbabwean u need to change. ROHR IS NOT FORCING PEOPLE TO PAY THE SUBSCRIPTIONS, also how many organisations do u know which dont ask for subscriptions and how is that organisation going to run without funds.Just because its Mr Tapa who started this Organisatio its killing most of you because you all wish if it one of you. Jealous, There are people from other countries e.g India, Somali also Uganda i can’t mention all and they all have small and big organisations my point is they don’t criticise each other but work together.There are people suffering in Zimbabwe, children dying with AIDS and because we are Zimbabweans we can not help each other or help this children because of the way our minds work, for me to mention this my point is this ROHR IT CAN BE THAT ORGANISATION WHICH CAN HELP PEOPLE BACK HOME IF WE WORK TOGETHER. Stop seeing the situation as Tapa is eating peoples money and For God sake his not Forcing anyone. ALSO THAT liar u wrote that woman were selling themselves for letter PISS OFF, get a life.IM WITH YOU MR TAPA, I SUPPORT YOU. Look at Indian people everywher in the world they have businesses every were shops because they stick to each other. Zimbabwean we need to change we realy have a problem. Stop blaiming ROHR OR VIGIL for the booing for the MP, ANYONE WHO GOT five common sense would not be happy to be asked to go back home, when the situation is bad. How can we survive if we go back, no jobs. What are we going to live on. IM sorry MP but its the way you address the speech. Now because MDC AND ZANUPF ARE TOGETHER YOU ARE TRYING TO BLAME ROHR.Mr Tapa don’t let this people ruin what you worked for, keep up with ur hard work and make the difference
THE problem appears Tapa misrepresented /misguided the public on his powers in this Human rights organisation.Tapa made the public to believe he had influence on immigration matters …..WHICH HE DOESNT.Then there is the issue misappropriation of funds.Mari yakadyiva what needs to happen is to investigate finances of this organisation.There are legal procedures in place in uk for that to happen…all thats needed is a complainant.The on line Papers are within their rights to explore this organisation…thats as EXAMPLE OF FREE PRESS.What Tapa and gand are doing is news worthy….we need to know.If this Tapa gang has issues with these papers SUE them.TRY civil litigation against the papers.GOOD LUCK.
Why is the press realese in this Nehanda Liar different from the ones in all the other papers. Have you edited it Not SO Brilliant. If you have have you got the right to edit a press release
Munhu wenyama, you are probably everything that is wrong with Zimbabwe, you call for human rights, democracy,freedom of speech and so forth but you have no full understanding that one of the rights is freedom of press. Which raises the role of Journalism, which one of them is to bring to surface issues that matter or that concern the public. Why ROAR or Vigil is sufferring is because they are using a brand name to piolot a scheme, the brand name is Zimbabwe, if investigations are carried out it’s usually that such comment derive from people who have a steak in the pie. Human beings are of such a nature that they get excited with news that posses as interesting. When people invest time and energy in things they have are not well versed in then this is the result. We are also begining to make the the mistake of thinking that Zimbabwean Diaspora constitutes the wishes and thoughts of all Zimbabweans. If you like this man so much, be constructive towards him otherwise I think you can be a Liability. Always ask the question why people are not happy then you might even evolve. If you were running a fish shop or a vegetable market then most probably no one would care but if it is human beings you might want to be a bit more sensitive. If ROAR is in the right it does need you to be ass leaking and helping to plunge it into further demise. The PMs speech was not the greatest I agree but what has that got to do with the price of fish. I don’t think people are as foolish as you some them up to be. Nhamo yakati wira ndiyo yakuita kuti tidyiwe nenhunzi. Hanzi chakupa ronda chati nhunzi dzikudye.
vakomana if nehandaradio publishs the names of the women that claim to have been taken advatange of then what because i believe they are there, why does ROHR not address this in thier press statements is it because they know they have dirty hands?
why is it that those who say i was helped by ROHR do not say they got helped for free?
and if ROHR is really there to help why chage pple who are not working is that not encouraging pple to work iligally?
surely there is no smoke without fire someone somewhere has abused their position of supposed power and the clock is ticking mabatwa….ana Philip Gore……truth will out soon and very soon the world will know.
Yes Ben YOU very correct.No smoke without fire.Nehanda radio excercised duty of care by letting the public know on the activities the likes of Philip Gore,Empraim Tapa and crew are up to.This was news worthy.Free democratic process coupled by Free media is what we want.Ngazvibude pachena ….and those WHO MISAPPROPRIATED FUNDS must be brought to book.Its a matter of time
Zimbabweans i think we are daft.When the arrived at the rally in London i was there physically,tichifarira.Look on the video when he said all his statements,we give him round of ablouse,but the PM ,forget we are people with 5 brains.Ku Zimbabwe HAPANA chati chanaka,look Gono,Tomana,Governors,perm sacretaries,Elections still coming,Human rights abuses.so the PM was advised wrongly by his advisers,to say this statement.I m FULL TIME MDC supporter,but what the PM said was too early for him to say these HURTFULL words.So pliz leave va Tapa,pa nhau iyi,PM ask US not tell what to DO,
Chinja maitiro,Mugabe must GO
Zimbabweans i think we are daft.When the PM arrived at the rally in London i was there physically,tichifarira.Look on the video when he said all his statements,we give him round of ablouse,but the PM ,forget we are people with 5 brains.Ku Zimbabwe HAPANA chati chanaka,look Gono,Tomana,Governors,perm sacretaries,Elections still coming,Human rights abuses.so the PM was advised wrongly by his advisers,to say this HURTFUL statement.I m FULL TIME MDC supporter,but what the PM said was too early for him to say these HURTFULL words.So pliz leave va Tapa,pa nhau iyi,PM ask US not tell what to DO,
Chinja maitiro,Mugabe must GO
The only reason we don't understand each other is the result of years and years of the culture of blame instilled in all of us by the ultimate monster (ZANU PF). ''When something is not right, it should have been caused by somebody else.''
There is no time to try and see where we ourselves have gone wrong. Let's just think this way: WHAT HAVE I MYSELF DONE TO BETTER THE SITUATION OF OTHERS.
We must all know that it is not worthwhile to discredit others when you offer nothing for the alternative.
The monster, (ZANU PF), shall still exist in us long after it's demise. We would have been fortunate enough to be in the diaspora, we have time to think and see differently.
The biggest lesson we could take back home is to debrief ourselves from the monster (ZANU PF). After then, can we be able to support each other without suspicion and mistrust.
To debrief yourself, you need to appreciate the person next to you, whether it be a spouse having cooked some nice warm meal or a child you have sent to fetch a glass of cold water in the fridge.