Kenyan football fans chant ‘Mugabe must go’

By Lance Guma
18 June 2008

Over 36 000 Kenyan football fans chanted ‘Mugabe must go’ as the Zimbabwean national soccer team walked onto the pitch for a World Cup qualifying match last Saturday. The warriors were beaten 2-0 by Kenya at the Nyayo National Sports Stadium in the capital city Nairobi. Just before that match the home fans made their feelings known about Mugabe’s continued stay in power, with one local blogger saying, ‘the chant of -Mugabe must go - echoed around the stadium from some 36 000 Kenyan fans.’ One fan whose nationality could not be ascertained was pictured holding up a banner with the same message.

Themba Dube a Zimbabwean working in Tanzania said Zimbabwe’s crisis is dominating media space in the region and a lot of Kenyans are very sympathetic towards their plight. He said this was because they went through similar waves of political violence. Dube said after the match, some of the Kenyan supporters blamed Zimbabwe’s defeat on the country’s political crisis, and expressed hopes that things will change after the June 27th presidential run-off. The view of the fans also echoed that of their Prime Minister Raila Odinga who has taken a much tougher stance on Mugabe than his African peers.

Odinga has urged Mugabe to step down and that other governments should echo the demand for peacekeeping troops to organise a free and fair election. Odinga who himself is part of a unity government that helped end political violence in Kenya said South African President Thabo Mbeki should speak more strongly, ‘against impunity in Zimbabwe.’ Odinga told an international discussion forum Tuesday that, ‘Zimbabwe is an eyesore on the African continent. I'm sad that so many heads of state in Africa have remained quiet when disaster is looming in Zimbabwe.’

Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has also joined the chorus of condemnation and accused Mugabe of, ‘tarnishing the reputation of Africa as a whole.’ Last week 40 prominent African leaders, mostly former heads of state, musicians and other celebrities signed an open letter calling on the Mugabe regime to end political violence and conduct a peaceful election. South Africa’s ruling ANC party leader Jacob Zuma this week said he did not expect a free and fair election in Zimbabwe.