Free Zim youth tackle Zuma in UK

members of Free Zimbabwe Youth (FZY) ambushed the Foreign Minister of South Africa, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma during a speech she gave on the United Nations at 60 at the London School of Economics (LSE) last week.
The organisation, made up of exiled Zimbabwean youths, say they are committed to “anti-apartheid-style direct action protests against Mugabe’s tyranny and against the ANC’s refusal to support the struggle for democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe.”
About five minutes into Dr Zuma’s speech, as she was speaking about international solidarity, one of the protesters stood up in the balcony and shouted: “Why are you doing nothing to help Zimbabwe? The ANC called for solidarity against apartheid. But the ANC government is showing no solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe.”
When asked by the chair of the meeting to keep quite, Alois Mbawara, 25, replied: “We can’t keep quite while Zimbabwe is suffering.”
When stewards finally dragged Mbawara out of the auditorium, the veteran anti-apartheid and human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, walked onto the stage and unfurled a placard behind Dr Zuma. It read: “Mbeki’s shame. ANC betrays black Zimbabwe.”
Tatchell was removed from the stage by police after an emotional speech accusing Dr Zuma and the ANC of betraying the late ANC leader, Oliver Tambo’s “commitment to international solidarity with oppressed people.” However, the farce was far from over, Dr Zuma was forced to listen to another two members of the movement haranguing her as well as catcalls from the women in the group, before the security forces and police removed all the Zimbabweans from the lecture theatre.
A spokesperson for LSE said that they knew that some Zimbabweans were planning a protest and had taken advice from the police beforehand.
“Audience members have an opportunity to ask questions and challenge speakers in the spirit of academic debate and mutual respect. When these rights are not respected, and the chair deems it necessary to take action, we are obliged to act and uphold free speech procedures,” she said.
Wellington Chibanguza, another member of FZY ejected from the auditorium, hailed the protest as a great success. “Although Dr Zuma was greeted by warm applause when she arrived, by the time she finished her speech she had alienated much of the audience. What really angered people was her final comment, when she did eventually refer briefly to Zimbabwe,” he said.
“Dr Zuma said Zimbabweans in Britain had no right to speak out about the situation Zimbabwe. This is a bit much coming Dr Zuma, who spent much of the apartheid era in exile in the UK.”
Explaining why the protest was necessary, Mbawara said: “Polite lobbying of the South African government has got us nowhere. The ANC ignores all cries for help from Zimbabwe. That’s why we had to stage this protest.
“If Mbkei and Zuma spoke out against Mugabe and organised international sanctions against his regime, Mugabe’s control would soon start to unravel. South African inaction is helping to keep him in power,” he said.
Neither Dr Zuma, nor the South African Ambassador to London was available to comment on protest at the time of going to print.