Mugabe will face a sea of red cards at summit

By Alex Bell
15 August 2008

The message to Robert Mugabe that he must concede power will be clear at Saturday’s SADC summit in Johannesburg as thousands of South African trade unionists and other citizens will march to the summit venue waving red cards – the globally recognised football symbol for expulsion.

South Africa’s trade union federation COSATU is hosting the mass demonstration, to protest against the dictatorship of Mugabe. Secretary General Zwelinzima Vavi said last Sunday that COSATU members and civil society groups must use the protest march on Saturday to show their “disgust” at Mugabe’s expected presence. He said: “We want a total isolation of Mugabe and his cronies”.

Vavi added on Tuesday that the isolation of Mugabe will continue and said a week long boycott of goods bound for Zimbabwe will be launched next month, throughout the SADC region. Vavi said the boycott is a bid to put pressure on Mugabe to concede power and end the ongoing suffering in his country. Vavi added that that all workers across the region must refuse to serve Mugabe and his cronies “so as to ensure that they indeed feel the heat of isolation”.

Global campaigning organisation Avaaz said on Friday that organisers of the march had approached the group and appealed to it for international support. In turn, Avaaz has formed the online “Red Card Campaign”, where members of the public can send a red card to show their support of the Zimbabwean people. The demonstrators at Saturday’s march will then carry banners and signs representing the red cards sent by Avaaz members and supporters from all over the world.

The group said it aims to have 100 000 cards from supporters across the world represented at the march, and added it would be an “overwhelming signal to Southern African leaders to act immediately to announce that the Mbeki-led negotiations have failed, and to launch a new and fairer negotiating process immediately.

People can send a card and show their support for the campaign by following the Avaaz link on our website.