ZimVigil activists dominate Lisbon summit

By Lance Guma
10 December 2007

When Mugabe arrived in Portugal last week he probably bargained on another self-serving publicity escapade. However activists from the Zimbabwe Vigil and other groups had other ideas. Instead of the summit providing Mugabe another platform to divert attention from his brutal regime back home, the committed activists stole the limelight and captured the attention of the world’s media. Even the residents of the capital Lisbon embraced the drum-beating group who virtually made the Vasco Da Gama train station and shopping complex (near the summit venue) their second home. They sang and danced in protest for over 6 hours on Saturday.

Pro-Mugabe activist George Shiri travelled to Lisbon and tried to put up a fight by guiding a small group of CIO’s to masquerade as ordinary Zimbabweans, supporting their Mugabe. Tempers briefly flared when the two groups came head to head. Adella Chiminya whose husband Tichaona Chiminya was murdered by state security agent Joseph Mwale, confronted the Mugabe supporters with chants of, ‘You murderers, you killed my husband, my children do not have a father because of you.’ Also present was Elliot Pfebve, a former parliamentary candidate for Bindura, whose brother Matthew was murdered by ruling party thugs who unleashed a violent terror campaign in the area.

Many of the protestors bore personal scars from the brutality unleashed in Zimbabwe and were eager to show the world that it was wrong for the man responsible for their pain, to be allowed to wine and dine with other world leaders at the summit. WOZA leader Jenni Williams, Dr John Makumbe, ZINASU’s Promise Mkwananzi and Washington Katema, Sidney Chisi (Youth Initiative for Democracy), Primrose Matamabanadzo (Zimbabwe NGO Human Rights Forum) and UK Labour Party MP Kate Hoey were some of those who took part in the protests. Former national soccer team coach Roy Barreto and his wife also joined in.

It did not take long for journalists present to work out that the pro-Mugabe group included Angela Moyo the head of the CIO in Kezi, Farai Mutamangira (said to be a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe) and Darlington Muzeza a member of the state funded Zimbabwe Youth Council. Adding to this weird collection were 2 black Americans, 1 Jamaican, and 9 Libyan and Portuguese youths. George Shiri who was holding a pro-Mugabe banner complained to journalists not to take his pictures without permission.

This surprised many because by holding the banner he was clearly courting media attention. His concern soon made sense when it was revealed that London’s Open University where Shiri teaches is receiving hundreds of complaints that his pro-Mugabe work is tarnishing the image of the university. If the university needed any evidence, this was in abundant supply over the weekend. Meanwhile Shiri and his group on Saturday were left looking like sheep without a shepherd when the Libyan and Portuguese youths left after an hour. Journalists joked that this half-hearted commitment betrayed the group’s status as a rent-a-crowd. At this point Shiri and his group packed up their material and retreated to a corner, watching helplessly as the ZimVigil activists put in a further 5 hours of singing and dancing.

Asked how they measured the success of their action, Rose Benton the ZimVigil coordinator said the publicity surrounding their activities during the summit had gone a long way to raising awareness. Portugal’s human rights organisation (ADDHU) helped coordinate the protests in Lisbon, including the translation of English posters into Portuguese. One banner on a flyover on Lisbon’s busiest road read, ‘Mugabe Rascita, You are not Welcome.’ Another placed on the beach and measuring 30 x 10 metres read, ‘Mugabe You´d Be More Welcome at The Hague’ (the International Criminal Court based in Holland).

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