Mugabe’s broiler chickens scampered off clucking in alarm as the Zimbabwe Vigil pursued them into the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London on Tuesday.
The Zimbabwe business delegation arrived in a black Mercedes people carrier but when they saw the Vigil protest outside the Chatham House think tank they hastily made for a side entrance, losing a few feathers in the flurry.
Why broiler chickens? The former Finance Minister Tendai Biti said last week:
‘The biggest problem with Zanu PF is that they don’t understand money and the economy. They are functionally illiterate. They think that money grows on trees. People just believe in spending, spending, spending. It’s like a broiler chicken. The broiler just eats. It doesn’t know why it’s eating. It eats itself to death. It’s consumption for the sake of consumption. It’s oblivious of where the food is coming from. It just eats 24 hours a day. So they have got a broiler chicken syndrome, they are oblivious.’
The Vigil objected to Chatham House giving a platform to a Zanu PF-backed delegation of business leaders within six months of the stolen elections. The delegation was led by Charles Msipa, President of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries.
Mr Msipa is said to be a member of a secret business committee of Zanu PF for which he mobilises funds. He played a big role in the farm invasions and is a close ally of former Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, the looter in chief of state diamonds . . . He is the Managing Director of Schweppes Zimbabwe which was seized from an exiled businessman.
The delegation is touring Europe appealing for international investment for bankrupt Zimbabwe and the removal of targeted sanctions against Mugabe and his cronies.
We at the Vigil are warning that investors should beware of Zimbabwe’s indigenization policy under which firms have to hand over 51% of their shares to Zanu PF people. We reminded investors that Transparency International rates Zimbabwe as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Mugabe himself, in the form of Fungayi Mabhunu in our Mugabe mask, paraded outside Chatham House with a poster reading:
‘Indigenisation: give me 51%’. Another poster displayed broiler chickens with the caption: ‘Zanu PF broiler chicken delegation’ while the eighteen and a half demonstrators (including a 5 year old) displayed our banner ‘No to Mugabe, No to Starvation’.
The Vigil protest ended with an angry Cephas Moswoswa denouncing Chatham House for harbouring people who had raped our wives and sisters.
Thanks to following who came. In addition to Cephas and Fungayi there were: Charles Dumisani Ndlovu, Clifford Mashiri, David Kadzutu, Dennis Benton, Helen Rukambiro, Ishmael Makina, Mary Muteyerwa, Michelle Dube, Patricia Masamba, Patrick Chatukuta, Raphael Ozkan, Rose Benton, Rosemary Maponga, Shylette Chipangura, Sithobekile Mlilo, Tendai Gwendoline Matemura, Wellington Mukucha.
Vigil co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://zimvigil.co.uk/
