'Stop Zimbabwe falling off the cliff' protest

Ten different Zimbabwean opposition and human rights groups have united for a demonstration in London on Saturday, Robert Mugabe's 91st birthday, not to wish him happy birthday, but to demand that he and his Zanu-PF government step down to allow for a peaceful end to the economic and political crisis that they have created.

Thirty five years of his corrupt and tyrannical rule has reduced Zimbabweans to penury and his current policies show no chance changing the fortunes of the country.

Last week a senior Minister in Mugabe's government told a delegation of 14 potential investors to mind their own business when they asked about Zanu-PF's succession plan for the nonagenarian who is now making headlines about falling down stairs.

The national economy is in ruins, with unemployment at 90% plus, 2 million people now living in abject poverty, the government staggering civil servants pay while waiting to collect taxes from the already over-taxed working population.

Soldiers are being forced to go on one month leave every other month to save on food bills, which actually displaces the burden from the state to the poor families.

The organisations participating in the coalition demonstration which starts at noon outside the Zimbabwean Embassy,  are Vigil, MDC-T, Zunde (Zimbabwean United for Democracy), Zapu, Rohr (Restoration of Human Rights), ZSD (Zimbabwe Social Democrats, Occupy Africa Unity Square, Zimbabwe We Can and Swazi Vigil, which is also challenging its  corrupt Monarchy.

The government's failure, one year after its election, to even make a dent in the 2.2 million new jobs that it promised, points to promises that were made without any basis - typical Zanu-PF behaviour.

A health time-bomb is ticking because of the failure to supply clean running water in the urban areas and the previously mentioned failure to stock hospitals with medicine.

A second time-bomb is social - the 90% plus unemployment rate is creating a generation of youths without hope of ever having jobs. The fact that Zimbabwe has not seen mass protests is a marvel, but the regime would be unwise to test providence.

A third time bomb is infrastructure - with Press reports indicating that Zimbabwe does not have its share of what is needed to stabilise the Kariba Dam wall which is overdue for repairs, with visible cracks  in walls.

If it should burst, the wall of water, twenty metres high and three kilometres wide would  sweep all the communities downstream of it, including Mozambique. And of course the country would be plunged into darkness and industry would stop.

We should not wait until there are street protests and rioting in our cities and town to do something about the country's economic meltdown because the rioting may unleash chaos and destruction no one can control.

This demonstration is being held on President Mugabe's 91 birthday, to send the following messages: To President Mugabe: we are not here to wish you happy birthday but to remind you that you have failed, and you should go peacefully, by implementing  democrat reforms, followed by free, fair and credible elections. Or you  can hang on to power and be assured of violent revolutionary change to sweep you aside like many other tyrants before you.

To Zanu-PF ruling elite: any economic system that forces 90% of the population into poverty is economically, socially and politically unsustainable. Regime change, unwelcome as it is to your ears, is now a national necessity and all those still resisting change are whistling in the graveyard.

To Zimbabwe's SADC and AU neighbours: Zimbabwe's rigged 2013 elections did not end Zimbabwe's political crisis but has made it more complex, but SADC must still attempt to  achieve a peaceful evolutionary change as opposed to the violent route President Mugabe is pushing the nation into. When your neighbour's house is on fire it is wise to help put out the fire because a burning ember carried by the wind could set your home alight too.

"To political parties we say we respect your democratic rights of association, but there comes a time when you have to come together; this is one such time. We call upon them support the National Convergence Conference as proposed under the auspices of the Anglican Bishop of Harare. And we hope that it will be held in an atmosphere of freedom and spirit of inclusiveness.

To ordinary Zimbabweans: it is in our interest to seek a peaceful end to this Zanu-PF dictatorship and the only way to achieve that is by using all the available avenues to demand that Zanu-PF implement the necessary democratic reforms which have been published and hold free, fair and credible elections.

This calls for personal sacrifice, strategy and unity, and Mugabe will be deploying his forces to counter it. But doing nothing is no longer an option; it is doing nothing that has led the nation into this mess and doing nothing will leave only one way out – a violent revolutionary route.

To the UN and the International Community: whilst we readily admit we wasted our best chance to implement reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, we have since learnt our lesson and now seek all your assistance to end this nightmare. It will need the UN system to force President Mugabe and Zanu-PF to step down and allow the implementation of all the democratic reforms agreed to in 2008.  We are asking the international community to erect a fence at the top of the cliff to stop Zimbabwe becoming another Libya or Syria where the international community is now busy running an ambulance service gathering broken bodies and broken lives at the bottom of the cliff.

Demonstration details:
Time and Date: 13.00 – 6 pm, 21st February 2015
Venue: Outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London WC2R 0JR

Wilbert Mukori - Zimbabwe Social Democrats (For on behalf of the UK Coalition)
Contact:  zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com,+44744 933 9854