London All night vigil described as a success

By Tichaona Sibanda
28 November 2005

The chairman of the MDC in the UK, Washington Ali said the majority of party activists in the diaspora fully support the decision taken by Morgan Tsvangirai to boycott the senate elections.

This was part of Ali’s message to activists who braved sub-zero temperatures in central London for an all night vigil last week Friday. He also stressed the need for unity in the struggle for change.

Activists in the UK believe the elections were pre-determined because of the unlevel electoral playing field. They said the party should be concentrating on bread and butter issues particularly the humanitarian crisis caused by Operation Murambatsvina.

Other speakers at the vigil urged activists not to be distracted by personalities. Ephraim Tapa, chairman of the MDC London branch said the MDC would solve its internal differences and tackle Robert Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) head-on.

He said the Senate project was illegitimate and rejected the argument that by not participating the MDC was ceding democratic space, adding that energies should be going into finding other ways to achieve change.

It was evident that the grass roots in Zimbabwe were against participating in the Senate elections. Activists from Dunfermline, Rochdale, Sheffield, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester plus many from London and South East England attended the all night vigil.