Zimbabwe and South African embassies in London face busy weekend

By Lance Guma
13 October 2006

Its going to be a busy weekend for the embassies of Zimbabwe and South Africa in London on Saturday after pressure groups ZimVigil and Free Zim Youth UK both announced demonstrations there. Alois Mbawara who heads Free-Zim Youth UK says they will be demonstrating at the South African mission to voice their disapproval of Thabo Mbeki’s stance on the Zimbabwean crisis. The Zimbabwe Vigil on the other hand are marking their 4th anniversary and will be joined in the usual vigil at the Zimbabwean embassy by members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the United Kingdom. It promises to be a well-attended vigil according to the organisers, as the MDC activists will be celebrating the 7th anniversary of their party.

Free-Zim Youth UK will march from Zimbabwe House to the South African embassy in central London. Mbawara says they will all be dressed in black to mark the death of democracy in Zimbabwe. The group says they will have a mock coffin symbolising victims of Operation Murambatsvina and that they will dump this at the embassy. Mbawara expressed their disappointment at Mbeki for not speaking out against abuses in Zimbabwe and says the South African leader is not being an honest broker in the crisis. After the demonstration the youths say they will march back to the Zimbabwean embassy to join the ZimVigil.

Rose Benton from the ZimVigil meanwhile told Newsreel they are also expecting a large turnout of people for their 4th anniversary vigil. She was cautious not to call it a celebration because they should not be in a situation where they have to demonstrate for over 4 years in the first place. Benton says it will be more like a wake. She expressed satisfaction with Thursdays handing over of a petition to British Labour MP Kate Hoey, saying over 40 activists joined in the march from Zimbabwe House to the Houses of Parliament where they met the MP. British Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik also joined the marchers. Hoey told protesters time was running out for Mugabe and that during her recent secret trip she realised there was a swelling tide of people saying, ‘Mugabe must go.’