Solidarity group challenges SA parliament to speak out on Zim crisis

By Alex Bell
09 February 2009

The Save Zimbabwe Now solidarity campaign has taken its fight to end the violence and oppression in Zimbabwe to South African parliamentarians - challenging the influential group of political leaders to speak out against the ongoing abuses in their neighbouring country.

In a letter sent to the opening of South Africa’s parliament last week, the campaign said the group of parliamentarians must use their positions to speak out against the atrocities still being committed in Zimbabwe, as well as to push for free and fair elections there. In the letter the campaign argued that “however convenient the current agreement [to form a unity government] may be, it has not produced a legitimate outcome,” and only elections under a people-driven constitution will ever achieve this. The campaign has also urged Parliament to act on the deplorable conditions that thousands of exiled Zimbabweans are living in after fleeing to South Africa, a situation the group has said parliament can address immediately.

The Save Zimbabwe Now campaign, which is a coalition of NGOs, human rights groups, activists and other individuals who have pledged to fight for an end to the Zimbabwe crisis, has been highlighted by a global call for rolling hunger strikes and fasts. High profile activists and leaders, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have committed themselves to fasting, in solidarity with starving and crisis weary Zimbabweans and, to date, more than 40 000 people have joined the worldwide cause to fast and pressure the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) leaders to act in Zimbabwe.

The group’s efforts are now set to intensify as violence, oppression and hunger continue to worsen across Zimbabwe, despite the agreement by the country’s political leaders to form a unity government. At least eight people abducted in recent months have remained unaccounted for, while more than 30 others are still being held behind bars on trumped up charges. At the same time, there are growing reports of mass starvation across the country as the food crisis deepens, and the UN has said more than seven million Zimbabweans are in critical need of food aid.

Kumi Naidoo, who is a former anti-apartheid activist and honorary president of the World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS), is days away from completing his 21 day hunger strike, before the Chair of the Commission for Gender Equality in South Africa, Nomboniso Gasa, takes up the challenge by fasting for 21 days, as of Wednesday.

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