News / National
UK-based Zimbabweans launch week-long protest over postal vote
20 Jun 2017 at 06:42hrs | Views
ZIMBABWEANS domiciled in the United Kingdom have launched a week-long protest in Leicester dubbed #Take2Zimbabwe demanding that British Prime Minister Theresa May exerts pressure on President Robert Mugabe to grant them their right to vote through the postal ballot system.
The protests, organised by Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe's Leicester branch, are set to spread to London, Birmingham and Manchester.
Also known as Refugee Week, the UK-wide programme aims to raise the public awareness about refugees and asylum seekers. Its main objective is to educate the British public as well as celebrate the contributions that refugees make to the UK, according to organisers.
"We are in the UK's city of culture joining the international community commence Refugee Week celebrations themed #OurSharedFuture, a relevant and fitting theme for #Take2Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is a nation producing refugees at an alarming rate for two decades," said campaign director Mable Kayiya.
In a message to Mugabe, Kayiya said it was shameful that Zimbabweans were fleeing their country to develop other nations.
"Mr President, nations worldwide are being developed by exiled Zimbabweans and those fleeing your choking grip on our civil, constitutional and human rights.
"You have had 93 years plus of life, but your regime thrives in taking lives. Take2 pleads with you to open your eyes for a minute and see the devastating effects your grip (on power)," Kayiya said.
Another member of the organising team, Alfred Mukuvare, said freedom would come to Zimbabwe.
"This way we show the world what we are yearning for which some take for granted. 37 years of intolerable dictatorship, human degradation, and freedom which was still pie in the sky. Uhuru will come," he said.
ROHR's Leicester branch chairperson Tsungirirai Kahiya said silence was no longer an option.
"There is so much each one of us can do to make a difference. If we don't, our country will further descend into a state of chaos. Silence never won rights. So I call upon the citizens of Zimbabwe to do something, be active and demand a better now and a better future for our children," she said.
The protests, organised by Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe's Leicester branch, are set to spread to London, Birmingham and Manchester.
Also known as Refugee Week, the UK-wide programme aims to raise the public awareness about refugees and asylum seekers. Its main objective is to educate the British public as well as celebrate the contributions that refugees make to the UK, according to organisers.
"We are in the UK's city of culture joining the international community commence Refugee Week celebrations themed #OurSharedFuture, a relevant and fitting theme for #Take2Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is a nation producing refugees at an alarming rate for two decades," said campaign director Mable Kayiya.
In a message to Mugabe, Kayiya said it was shameful that Zimbabweans were fleeing their country to develop other nations.
"Mr President, nations worldwide are being developed by exiled Zimbabweans and those fleeing your choking grip on our civil, constitutional and human rights.
"You have had 93 years plus of life, but your regime thrives in taking lives. Take2 pleads with you to open your eyes for a minute and see the devastating effects your grip (on power)," Kayiya said.
Another member of the organising team, Alfred Mukuvare, said freedom would come to Zimbabwe.
"This way we show the world what we are yearning for which some take for granted. 37 years of intolerable dictatorship, human degradation, and freedom which was still pie in the sky. Uhuru will come," he said.
ROHR's Leicester branch chairperson Tsungirirai Kahiya said silence was no longer an option.
"There is so much each one of us can do to make a difference. If we don't, our country will further descend into a state of chaos. Silence never won rights. So I call upon the citizens of Zimbabwe to do something, be active and demand a better now and a better future for our children," she said.
Source - newsday
