Zim Vigil deny plotting disruption of Tsvangirai London meeting

By Violet Gonda
22 June 2009

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai came face to face with disgruntled elements of the Zimbabwean society in the UK when he urged the Diaspora community to go back home, where there was now “peace and stability.” Hecklers drowned out Tsvangirai’s speech and blocked attempts by Finance Minister Tendai Biti to rescue the disastrous situation that unfolded at Southwark Anglican Cathedral in London on Saturday. This resulted in the Prime Minister aborting his speech prematurely.

Some in the MDC-UK leadership blamed former Chairperson of MDC UK, Ephraim Tapa’s pressure group Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR), and Rose Benton’s Zimbabwe Vigil, of sabotaging the Prime Minister’s address.

Another group, the Zimbabwe Diaspora Development Interface, said it welcomed Tsvangirai’s call for Zimbabweans in the United Kingdom to consider going back home and deeply regretted “the appalling disruptive behaviour by a special interest group who disrupted the Prime Minister’s meeting with the Diaspora.”

However, Benton denied orchestrating the protests and said what happened was a spontaneous response by the Zimbabweans present, who felt really strongly about being asked to go back home when it is obvious that it is still not safe and human rights abuses are continuing.

She told SW Radio Africa: “I don’t think we are that powerful. I think it was a spontaneous response from the Diaspora.”

“There were ROHR members, there were Vigil members, there were MDC members and when you look at the pictures of the people protesting there were a wide variety of Zimbabweans.”

Benton said the fear is that the Prime Minister’s comments could be picked up by the British government as a signal that the situation had changed, when it really has not changed at all. She said there are many Zimbabweans applying for asylum and they are aware that if they are sent back home they will be returning to a very uncertain and impossible future in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, the MDC continues to send mixed messages about the political climate in Zimbabwe. Prime Minister Tsvangirai is on a tour of western countries where he is telling world leaders that the situation in Zimbabwe has changed and that there is peace and stability. But while the Prime Minister is singing this tune in the west, the MDC back in Zimbabwe is telling a different story. The party issued a strongly worded statement on Monday that was in sharp contrast to the message their own leader is spreading to the outside word.

The MDC said it was going to hold an extra-ordinary national executive meeting in Harare on Tuesday to deliberate on critical issues affecting the party and the inclusive government. Matters to discuss include “the continued crack-down on MDC members, characterized by the unwarranted detention of the party's Director-General, Tondepi Shonhe, who is languishing in prison on an innocuous trumped-up charge.”

“On Saturday, Mutare West MP, Hon Shua Mudiwa, was "convicted" on a trumped-up charge of kidnapping as efforts intensify to whittle down the MDC majority in Parliament,” the statement added.

Despite the Prime Minister saying everything is well - his own party contradicted him saying “the crackdown has not spared civic society activists, journalists and lawyers.”

One commentator said: “The MDC keeps shooting itself in the foot. They should decide which is which.”

While Zimbabwe has seen some significant changes since the formation of the unity government, western countries have refused to give the coalition substantial developmental aid until there are significant and visible democratic reforms.

US ambassador James McGee said recently that issues that need to be changed in Zimbabwe, like media reforms, don’t need money but political will.

Zimbabweans speaking after the disastrous London meeting on Saturday say Tsvangirai risks losing his traditional supporters, such as those in the Diaspora, the farming community and civic groups, if he continues to try to sweep obvious truths under the carpet. They expressed much concern that he is trying too hard to sanitise the Mugabe regime, at the expense of the people.

On Monday Tsvangirai met British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who followed the line of the other leaders in the west who have said more reforms were needed in Zimbabwe before aid can be channelled to the country.

Brown told Tsvangirai that there were ‘great signs of progress’ in Zimbabwe, but the power-sharing government still had to meet a number of tests on the road to democracy.

The UK government announced an additional £4 million of food aid and £1 million for school textbooks, bringing total British transitional support for the inclusive government this year to £60 million. But this extra £5 million falls far short of the £5 billion required to rebuild Zimbabwe.

Brown told Tsvangirai that the UK was prepared to go further in offering more transitional support, but only if the reform programme on the ground gained momentum.

This was the first meeting of British and Zimbabwean leaders at 10 Downing Street in more than two decades.