Bind Mugabe to GPA promises – ZimVigil

On a bitterly cold Saturday, with the temperature not rising above 2 degrees centigrade, we were surprised to be joined outside the Embassy by President Mugabe, tearing himself away from his 89th birthday celebrations. 

As befits a man of such advanced years, he took a rest on one of our camp chairs while he contemplated the prospect of another term of office. Where to holiday next? The UN in New York perhaps? Or there must be an AU meeting in Addis Ababa? Or Rome to meet the new Pope? Or even Brussels – so keen to drop sanctions! No, better a quiet visit to Hong Kong to count the money. (PS remember to avoid South Korea as Tsvangirai is already there busy preparing for the elections . . .)

As Mugabe dozed off under the snowflakes, Vigil supporters tied him to his chair with the SADC bonds which we hope will produce free and fair elections: ‘International Observers’, ‘Curbs on Partisan Security Forces’, ‘Impartial Electoral Commission’, ‘Reformed Voters’ Roll’, ‘No Hate Speech’ and ‘Open Airways’ (perhaps we can even have our radios back . . . )

With Mugabe’s ability to steal the elections curbed by these restrictions, Vigil supporters trooped off to the South African High Commission to deliver a letter for President Zuma warning him that unless the GPA reforms are implemented there is no hope that Mugabe will allow free and fair elections (for full text of the letter see last week’s diary: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/475-zuma-save-zimbabwe–zimbabwe-vigil-diary-16th-february-2013).

Thanks to Fungayi Mabhunu for playing the role of Mugabe in our demonstration which was part of the Free Zimbabwe Global Campaign which has been staging monthly demonstrations since January last year.

Other points

• We were glad to be joined by MDC stalwart Makusha Mugabe (no relation!) who runs the ChangeZimbabwe website, especially as our numbers were depleted by the attendance at the launch of a new ROHR branch in Southampton.

• We are missing Josie Zhuga who is such a buoyant personality on the front desk. She is not well and is awaiting surgery.

• It was good to meet Andrew Veremu who came down from Coventry University to speak to us about a documentary he is doing on Zimbabwean asylum seekers for his master’s degree. We are only too happy to help the many students who come to us seeking help with projects on Zimbabwe and asylum.

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: 40 signed the register.