Together with millions of Zimbabweans we are alarmed at the meteoric rise of Grace Mugabe. Some of her recent comments: About 300 pastors and their wives went to Dr Grace’s ‘children’s home’ in Mazowe to be told that Mugabe had been anointed by heaven: ‘In their requests to the First Lady, the pastors said they wanted to be considered for farms and be given stands to prepare for their retirement from the ministry. In response, Grace said she will take their pleas to Mugabe as long as they joined Zanu PF and encouraged their members to buy party cards.’
Dr Grace told a rally in Gweru: ‘“Nobody will remove me from the farm which I took. Blood will be spilt if anyone attempts to remove me from that farm . . . Women, we need land, so let us take it. Even if we don’t farm on the land, that is not a problem as long as you have it and it’s yours.’
At a rally in Harare she said: ‘Nobody is buying my yoghurt. Business is very bad because of sanctions. You can’t even find a person who can buy a packet of milk.’ The Vigil is a protest organisation and one of our regular dispiriting experiences is to see plump linen-clad NGO people at London meetings, dozing between lunch and dinner while contemplating the plight of their valiant industry struggling for funds to pay £100,000 salaries and packages including children’s school fees, accommodation, cars and other necessary expenses.
As far as we are concerned these people are looking in the wrong direction. It is not for the Vigil to become a charity but for charities to confront the politics of Zimbabwe. Wake up and taste the yoghurt.
• ‘Hope for Zimbabwe’. Tuesday 4th November from 7 – 9 pm. Venue: the Royal Geographical Society, London. Hosted by the Mike Campbell Foundation with Ben Freeth, MBE, Christina Lamb, OBE, Dame Linda Dobbs (Chair). Tickets: £15.
Post published in: News
Thank you for not giving up on those helpless to make a stand for themselves!