Graceless Mugabe – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary

Our Mugabe mask got another outing at an EU / Africa Summit when the Vigil demonstrated in Brussels on Wednesday against the EU’s craven invitation to Mugabe to attend the meeting despite being ‘the last man standing’ on the sanctions list. 

The mask was first ‘unmasked’ in 2007 when a large group of Vigil supporters demonstrated in Lisbon against the EU’s decision to allow Mugabe to attend the Summit there.

The EU must have congratulated itself when Mugabe didn’t pitch up for the Brussels meeting, complaining that the invitation did not extend to Grace. The EU rightly reckoned that Africa would ignore Mugabe’s demand to boycott the Summit because of the graceless invitation.

Zanu PF seems to have realised that it overplayed its hand. It knows that Zuma, in his own interests, will side with Mugabe but the rest of Africa has clearly decided that there is a limit to how far senile posturing can take us. Mugabe must change his own nappy.

It was left to the Vigil to represent Zimbabwe in Brussels, which must have dismayed the scores of Mugabe flunkeys on big expense allowances who normally infest his foreign trips like fleas on a goat.

David Kadzutu and Peter Sidindi of our partner organisation Zimbabwe Yes We Can took turns to don the Mugabe mask and enlighten the world about Mugabe’s vision: poverty, disease and corruption. They passed around our posters reading: ‘No to vote-rigger Mugabe’, ‘EU / AU supports dictator Mugabe’, ‘EU / AU supports Zimbabwe’s illegal regime’ and ‘No to AU dictators’.

The ‘No to AU dictators’ poster was particularly popular with the hundreds of Mauritanian protesters we were grouped with who showed great interest in our cause. There were migrants from all over Africa demonstrating at the conference and groups were all given two-hour time slots. Judging from the leaflets we found when we arrived, our predecessors had included Rwandans protesting against their ‘dictator Paul Kagame’.

We were inspired by the endurance of Vigil supporter Ruwimbo Melody Tembo who left Stafford at 1.30 am to catch the coach from Birmingham at 3 am, arriving in Brussels at 5 pm and only getting back to Birmingham at 12.30 pm the next afternoon, finally getting home at 1.30 pm – 36 hours on the go for a two-hour demo!

We were glad that Ruwimbo and the other participants in the Brussels excursion were able to attend the Vigil today, and most of them went on to a meeting down the Strand at the India Club for our bi-monthly Zimbabwe Action Forum (ZAF).

More than 30 people attended and heard Ephraim Tapa report on a recent visit back home during which he had discussions with embassies in Harare. More importantly, he met with prominent opposition leaders who suggested co-operation with the diaspora represented by the Vigil coalition.

There was a lively discussion of this at the ZAF meeting and it was agreed that we would bring the next meeting forward to next Saturday (12th April) to enable us to reach decisions on this overture.

Other points

· Fungayi Mabhunu reported that a friend had visited police headquarters in Harare and found them looking at pictures of the Vigil including some showing a Vigil supporter wearing our Mugabe mask. This sort of information is quite useful to present to the Home Office when they ask why Zimbabwean Vigil activists cannot be sent home.

· We were pleased to be joined by supporters we have not seen for a while: Josie Zhuga, Louisa Musaerenge and Caroline Witts on her bi-monthly trip from Exeter.

· Thanks to Chipo Musodza and Joseph Chivayo who were there at the start of the Vigil to help set up.

· Statistic of the week: apparently 7,700 people are employed by the Indigenisation Ministry (see: Chinamasa in wage bill Catch-22 – http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/news/zimsit_chinamasa-in-wage-bill-catch-22/). No wonder the country is bankrupt.

· Ominous report of the week: the Israeli-ballot-rigging company Nikuv has not only moved into the King George VI army barracks in Harare but has apparently ordered 7 container loads of ballot-rigging material for the 2018 elections (see: http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/news/zimsit_shock-2018-vote-claims/ – Shock 2018 vote claims).

For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website.

FOR THE RECORD: 64 signed the register.