“We urge you as the SADC facilitator to call President Mugabe to account. We beg you to press for international observers to be sent to Zimbabwe as soon as possible to deter election violence,” says the letter.
The Vigil was followed by the first Zimbabwe Action Forum of 2013. Among the subjects discussed was a possible demonstration outside the Chatham House think tank here next Thursday at the launch of a new book – ‘Zimbabwe takes back its land’ – which claims to counter ‘the dominant media narratives of oppression and economic stagnation’.
We were refreshed to read the straight talking by the MDC’s exiled Treasurer General Roy Bennett, who disagreed with the hypocritical tributes to the late Vice President John Nkomo. He said: “How can anyone with any sense say that Nkomo dedicated his life to Zimbabwe’s prosperity? Since the 1980s, he has sat at the heart of the beast that has destroyed our economy. He has held the hand of the dictator that has obliterated our hopes and freedoms. He must now be remembered by the choices he made. He chose to oppose the people, rather than serve them. He walked around in tailor-made suits while Zimbabweans walked in rags. He received private medical treatment in South Africa, while Zimbabweans in South Africa were dying in the townships’.