33 years of oppression – Zimbabwe Vigil

LONDON – Despite renewed pressure from SADC for the full implementation of the GPA, President Mugabe exuded confidence that he will win the elections he insisted should be held last year or the year before that at the latest.

‘You’d be surprised what little bags of diamonds can do’ he told the Vigil. ‘Just ask my friend Charles Taylor or for that matter. . .’

Waving a pistol at Vigil supporters, the President (played by Fungayi Mabhunu in our Mugabe mask) was making his annual appearance outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London to mark Independence Day.

Carrying a poster reading ’33 years in power’, he was beset by Zimbabwean exiles with rival placards such as: 33 years of oppression, 33 years of looting, 33 years of suffering, 33 years of lawlessness, 33 years of violence and 33 years of rigged elections.

Mugabe assured us that the voters’ roll had been cleaned up. ‘Dead people have been taken off’ he said – but added under his breath ‘more of them will be added’. Vigil supporters signed a letter to President Zuma drawing his attention to the moves underway for massive vote rigging.

The letter reads:

‘We welcome the latest visit to Harare by the SADC facilitation team but caution South Africa against paying for the forthcoming elections there.

As Professor Welshman Ncube has pointed out, it is well within the capacity of Zanu PF to fund the elections if they are prepared to use their diamond revenue. Finance Minister Biti has made the same point, lamenting the loss of diamond revenue to the Treasury.

The UN, the US and the EU have all expressed willingness to fund the elections but their offers have been rejected by Zanu PF because it fears objective scrutiny. We believe that South Africa should also exercise due diligence in this matter.

With elections coming in the next six months, we call on the facilitation team to ensure that eligible voters in Zimbabwe are allowed to register and draw your attention to what is described as ‘calculated bias towards ensuring perceived Zanu PF voters register to vote, with simultaneous efforts being made in some quarters to prevent opposition party supporters from registering at all.”

The Zimbabwe Vigil has been protesting outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London every Saturday for the past eleven years in support of human rights and free and fair elections.’

The letter was the Vigil’s contribution to the 16th monthly Free Zimbabwe global protest. The theme this month is ‘Simuka, Phakama – stand up and be counted’.

Vigil founder member Ephraim Tapa stood up and spoke of the recent undercover visit he’d made to Zimbabwe. He said the three party leaders were congratulating themselves on the 33rd anniversary of independence as if everything was ok.

Everything was not ok, he said, and that is why we were gathered on the Strand demanding free and fair elections which would produce a credible result. He added that he had found a cowed nation and that he believed the result of the elections had already been decided.

Other points

• It was a busy day for Ephraim who came to the Vigil after chairing a well-attended meeting of the Zimbabwe Yes We Can group of which he is President. After the Vigil, he joined us at the bi-monthly Zimbabwe Action Forum to speak about his time in Zimbabwe.

He spoke of the daily hardships of the people living the ‘economy of the stomach’ and how when he visited people’s carefully kept homes in Harare their faces fell when he asked to use the toilet. Running water was sporadic and when it was available was full of sewage.

He also spoke of his terror on the death trap of the Masvingo Road. Large lorries with swerving trailers resulted in cars being swept off the road. In contrast the road to Mutare (and the diamonds) was immaculate.

• To our joy it was the warmest and sunniest day for seven long months. The dancing, singing and drumming reflected this.

• We were happy to be joined by our good friend Mark Beacon and others from Action for Southern Africa, the successor to the Anti-apartheid Movement. Other visitors included a Pakistani lady, Ayesha Siddique Khan, who is studying human rights law in London and who said how important it was for oppressed people to stand together.

• We are glad to let you know that our Swazi friend Tintswalo Ngobeni who was threatened with deportation is still in the UK. After our mailing on Thursday in which we called on the airline not to take her back, we were told that the deportation had been called off.

• Grateful thanks to Rose Maponga who took away our weather-worn banners for repair and return next week.

FOR THE RECORD: 72 signed the register.