Zim exiles and activists protest against Mugabe in Namibia

By Tichaona Sibanda
28 February 2007

Zimbabwean exiles in Namibia joined human rights activists in an unprecedented demonstration against Robert Mugabe in Windhoek on Wednesday. They accused him of trampling on the people of Zimbabwe and curtailing civil liberties by banning all opposition political rallies.

This is the first time that Mugabe’s visit to Windhoek has been overshadowed by a demonstration against his human rights violations since Namibia attained Independence in 1990.

The one and half hour protest outside Zimbabwe’s Embassy in central Windhoek was held with the full cooperation of the police who kept a close watch on the demonstrators who chanted ‘tyrant’ and carried placards with messages that read ‘Mugabe repent’ and ‘Retire Tyrant Retire.’

Phil ya Nangolo, director of the National Society for Human Rights in Namibia, described the protest as good-natured and non-violent. No official from the Zimbabwe Embassy dared to venture outside during the protest but Ya Nangolo added; ‘the message got home loud and clear because we made so much noise outside the embassy building and they could obviously read the placards. Namibians do not tolerate what is happening in Zimbabwe where there are serious human rights, humanitarian and security crises. This is why Namibians both black and white stood up in solidarity to say no to Robert Mugabe.’

Mugabe, on the second day of his visit to Windhoek, was also told by the human rights activists not to influence Namibian political leaders with his catastrophic land reform programme. He was kept away from the vociferous crowd.

‘We called upon Mugabe to restore the rule of law, to free his government’s total control of the media, to respect the independence of the judiciary, to respect property rights and lift the ban on opposition parties,’ said Ya Nangolo.

But Mugabe, facing growing unrest back home over policies that have ruined the country’s economy, was unrepentant. Defending his land redistribution policy at a banquet Tuesday night he said the programme has addressed and reversed a skewed land ownership pattern, which favoured the minority at the expense of the majority of ‘our people.’

Ya Nangolo disagreed saying the chaotic land redistribution exercise has not empowered any Zimbabweans but has just brought poverty.