Zimbabwe Vigil Diary – 6th October 2007

nd corruption and torture. The reality of the situation in Zimbabwe was brought home to us by Agnes Zengeya, the death of whose brother we mourned. A 35-year-old school sports master, he died for the lack of a hospital drip.
Another of our supporters, Fungayi, reported that his elderly, mother in Mbare had been forcibly conscripted to walk to the airport to greet Mugabe. He’d been told that schoolchildren were now being conscripted to join the police and taught Zanu (PF) slogans – not a good omen for free and fair elections.
Next Saturday marks our 5th anniversary and we are pleased that Kate Hoey MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Zimbabwe, will join us. She has been such an encouragement over the years. Kate has agreed to receive our petition calling on EU governments to suspend government to government aid to SADC countries until they honour their human rights commitments to Zimbabwe by condemning Mugabe’s abuses instead of applauding him. We are not talking here about humanitarian or food aid but the money, for instance, which paid for the Robert Mugabe Highway in Malawi. We want this SADC money diverted instead to feed the starving in Zimbabwe.
The petition has been signed by thousands of passers-by. It is a real petition with physical signatures not a one-click internet petition. Kate is to pass the petition on to Gordon Brown and we will be sending copies to all EU and SADC governments
For this week’s Vigil pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/
FOR THE RECORD: 101 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY: Saturday, 13th October, 2 – 6 pm. Zimbabwe Vigil’s 5th Anniversary followed by a social event at RampART Creative Centre and Social Space, 15-17 Rampart Street, London E1 2LA.