Lance Guma’s Lisbon Diary

10 December 2007

See pictures Lance took of the protestors

There is a big difference between talking to people over the phone while conducting interviews and actually meeting them in person. This weekend I travelled to the Portuguese capital Lisbon, for the EU-Africa summit. I spent 4 days with activists from the Zimbabwe Vigil who had gone to demonstrate at the venue. Most of them are victims of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and witnessing their passion and dedication to raising awareness of the crisis in the country was a humbling experience.

I refer to the likes of Adella Chiminya who lost her husband Tichaona Chiminya in a petrol bomb attack in Buhera. Then there was former Bindura parliamentary candidate Elliot Pfebve, whose brother Matthew was killed by ruling party militants. The list was endless. Robert Mugabe of course stole most of the headlines because he was ‘persona non grata’ at the summit and only attended because the hosts were eager to avoid a collapse of the talks, after a boycott threat by African countries.

Thursday evening the first supper by the group at a restaurant in the city’s Rosio Square basically set the tone for a vibrant few days of protest. Bemused but excited Portuguese diners watched the activists break into song soon after the meal and the questions soon came flooding in. Who were these people from Africa wearing ‘Zimbabwe In Our Hands’ t-shirts? What were they doing in Lisbon? The education began.

The following day the group spent time putting in place the logistics for the protest and some of the stunts that were going to be performed. A play featuring look-alikes of Robert Mugabe and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was later performed on the street. It showed the two leaders sleeping in bed, while protesters next to them held up banners and chanted slogans, ‘wake up to human rights.’ On Saturday there were at least 6 protests going on at the same time, in the same square.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi hired two planes packed with his supporters and these clashed with Anti-Gaddafi protesters. Sudan also had protesters highlighting the Darfur issue while a group from Angola promoted their campaign to win independence for the province of Cabinda. Pro-Zanu PF commentator George Shiri, in league with about about 4 CIO’s from Zimbabwe, grouped together a half dozen Portuguese and Libyan youths to put up a pro-Mugabe presence along with a sprinkling of black Americans, who have never set foot in Zimbabwe.

On Sunday at the press centre I met ZBC’s Rueben Barwe who sauntered his way through the area accompanied by an army of state media journalists. These included Munyaradzi Huni, Itayi Musengeyi from the Herald and Barwe’s cameramen whose name now eludes me. Two men from the Presidents office, one with a scar on the side of his face and another with one eye were with this group (shades of 007 bad guys!) Barwe and I immediately went into a debate on the Zimbabwean crisis and the entire state media group ganged up on me and attempted to tell me I was a sell-out.

I say ‘attempted’ because they failed dismally. I made it clear they sang for their supper and could never in their wildest dreams ever criticise Mugabe. SW Radio Africa however has the freedom to criticise anyone from Tsvangirai to Mugabe without any repercussions. I asked them why former ZBC cameramen Edward Chikomba was killed if everything is okay in Zimbabwe. I got a shocking ‘he was a coward,’ answer from Barwe’s cameraman.

Reuben obviously realised this was less than an ideal reply and quickly stepped in, saying Chikomba’s murder was a case of mistaken identity. ‘Oh,’ I said, ‘mistaken identity, why should anyone be killed in the first place?’ The conversation was weird by any standard. Why would a group of fellow journalists not sympathise with the death of one of their own? Asked why the police beat up Tsvangirai in March this year, I was told it was because he walked into a police station and assaulted policemen just doing their job.

Ha! Dear reader, I am sure you are with me when I say we live in a parallel universe with some of these people. Barwe went on to boast about the billions of dollars coming from his farm and insisted all was well in Zimbabwe. The entire group used the word, ‘we’ when talking about Zanu PF. I told them this indicated they were now mere appendages of the ruling party. Not everyone in Zimbabwe can be a Reuben Barwe and enjoy the benefits of state patronage.

Another interesting chat I had was with pro-Zanu PF commentator George Shiri. He complained that several people were trying to get his Vice Chancellor to fire him from the Open University in London, over accusations he is tarnishing the image of the university. Despite saying he was not a pro-Mugabe supporter he was holding a banner proclaiming support for him. He was very unhappy when I took a photo of him holding the banner.

Dr John Makumbe provided some light-hearted intervention as tensions were boiled over between pro and anti Mugabe protests. He stood in front of a Zanu PF poster as I took pictures and I told him mine would be a sensational headline, ‘Makumbe joins Zanu PF in dramatic u-turn!’ Makumbe held out the MDC open palm symbol and this prompted those holding the banner to shift to the side. Makumbe moved to follow them as the crowds broke into laughter.

I also met the energetic Jenni Williams from WOZA, Promise Mkwananzi and Washington Katema from ZINASU, Primrose Matambanadzo (Zimbabwe NGO Human Rights Forum), Sidney Chisi (Youth Initiative for Democracy) plus Hebson Makuvise from the MDC. Professor Elphus Mukonoweshuro was around but I never got to meet him. Other people present who deserve mention are Temba Moyo, a community development worker in Cardiff, activist Anna Merytt, Swedish MP Birgitta Ohlsson and former national soccer team coach Roy Barreto and his wife.

Former MDC Youth Coordinator Sanderson Makombe, Wiz Bishop, Stendrick Zvorwadza, Ephraim Tapa, Judith Mutsvairo, Victoria Chitsiga, Willie Chitima and others showed outstanding commitment during the 4 days I spent with them.

It is very clear we are not going to have Father Christmas delivering freedom for Zimbabwe and that Zimbabweans have to fight for it, but what I saw in Lisbon was group of people who have the potential to shape the country’s destiny.

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