Free-Zim youths to pressure SADC embassies on Zimbabwe crisis

By Lance Guma
15 December 2006

The embassies of several Southern African states in London face an early and probably unwanted Christmas present in the form of demonstrations by Free-Zim Youth UK. Alois Mbawara who leads the group says they will be targeting all 14 Southern African Development Community (SADC) members’ states. On Friday 22nd December the group launch their ‘Long March’ entitled ‘Africa Liberate Zimbabwe’ and will target the embassies of Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique.

Mbawara says because the embassies are dispersed in different locations of London they will be unable to cover all 14 countries in one day. The marches have been broken into two with the remaining 8 embassies set for January next year. The group says they welcome an initiative by World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS) in advocating for regional civic societies and the international community to offer solidarity and sympathy with the people of Zimbabwe.

Wellington Chibanguza, one of the Free-Zim coordinators, said in a statement that their programme of action also comes in the wake of, ‘the initiative by SADC to appoint a troika to assess the political crisis in Zimbabwe and it calls on us as young Africans to realise that the regional influence is absolutely imperative to any political or social aspect of any nation.’ The group slammed what they called, ‘the shackles of political incompetence,’ which Free-Zim UK believe have chained the people of Zimbabwe and the rest of the African continent.

Mbawara says, ‘regional civic societies and institutes like SADC and the AU have social, economic and political responsibilities and should be for the empowering of the African people in advocating for political consciousness and a democratic environment.’ He says while SADC was set up to achieve economic development the Zimbabwean crisis flew in the face of all those objectives. They now want all SADC member states to realise just what Zimbabweans are going through and the ‘Long March’ as they call it, is designed to achieve that objective.