Ugly budget – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary

photolink: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/23353772356/sizes/m/

Mr Chinamasa came up with no serious plans to address the country’s economic malaise. The Vigil thinks this is because Mugabe has no answers except to get on a plane and go to Paris for another grandstanding conference.

So the situation in Zimbabwe will surely get worse. When we became independent we were second only to South Africa in the region in terms of economic development. Now Zimbabwe’s budget is smaller than those of all our neighbours, including previously pitied Botswana.

Zambia gets five times as much foreign direct investment and Mozambique nine times as much. For its part, Botswana hardly needs any investment because it has worked out how to do ititself.

What makes the situation so serious for Zimbabwe is that virtually all the money the government gets goes on paying the government itself leaving nothing for the country. That things can be done differently is shown by Tanzania’s new president John Magufuli. His first move was to cancel independence day celebrations to spend the money on a cleanup campaign (see: http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/news/zimsit_w_pres-no-uhuru-party-lets-clean-tanzania/).

The Vigil is sad that Zimbabwe is not under the leadership of someone with the vision of President Magufuli whose first thought was to scythe the privileged in the interests of the people as a whole.

Indeed, so self-obsessed is Mugabe that he went on from his Paris shopping trip to take part in the Vigil’s Mr Ugly competition (now an international event). See: http://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/zims-mr-ugly-must-also-be-creative-and-stylish-organiser-20151126 – Zim’s Mr Ugly must also be ‘creative and stylish’ – organiser.

As expected, the event was fiercely competed by various devils but after satisfactory arrangements were put in place with the Vigil’s bankers, ROBERT MUGABE was unanimously declared the winner and awarded the Nikuv floating trophy.

Thanks to those who came early to help set up: Eunice Mucherechedzo, Humphrey Dube, Sharon Moyo, Jennifer Maritsa, Farai Sharmaine Gumbanjera and Fungay Mabhunu. Special thanks to Humphrey for climbing up and down the ladder to put up the banners and tarpaulin and to Eunice and Sharon for taking care of the front table. Thanks to those who stayed till the end to help pack up: Alice Shimika, Audrey Chihoho, Catherine Musa, Chipo Parirenyatwa, Eunice Mucherechedzo, Fungayi Mabhunu, Humphrey Dube, Ishmael Makina, Jennifer Maritsa, Jennipher Sabe, Kidi Gotsi, Sharon Moyo, Tawanda            Chikwanha, Veli Mamba and Zondiwe Gumede.

For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website.

FOR THE RECORD: 21 signed the register.

EVENTS AND NOTICES:

• Monthly Itai Dzamara protest. Saturday 6^th December from 2 – 6 pm outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London. The protest is to mark nine months since Dzamara’s abduction by intelligence agents.
• Next Swaziland Vigil. Saturday 13^th December from 10 am to 1 pm outside the Swaziland High Commission, 20 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LB.
• The Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s partner organization based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil to have an organization on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents us.
• Zimbabwe Yes We Can Movement holds monthly meetings in London as the political face of ROHR and the Vigil.
• Zimbabwe Action Forum (ZAF) meets regularly after the Vigil to discuss ways to help those back in Zimbabwe tofight oppression and achieve true democracy.
• Zimbabwe Vigil Highlights 2014 can be viewed on this link: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/vigil-news/campaign-news/642-zimbabwe-vigil-highlights-2014. Links to previous years’ highlights are listed on 2014 Highlights page.
• Facebookpages:

Vigil: https://www.facebook.com/zimbabwevigil

ZAF: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zimbabwe-Action-Forum-ZAF/490257051027515

ROHR: https://www.facebook.com/ROHR-Zimbabwe-Restoration-of-Human-Rights-301811392835

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.