SW Radio Africa (London)
Tererai Karimakwenda
27 February 2008
The Zimbabwe Youth Network (ZYN) and the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) have announced that there will be a huge demonstration at the Zimbabwe Consulate in Jo'burg on Wednesday, one day before another protest is due at the same location on Thursday. The Wednesday protest is being supported by numerous Zimbabwean groups, including the Crisis Coalition, Zimbabwe Political Victims Organisation (Zipovo), Civil Service Organisations Forum and both formations of the MDC.
There have been protests at the Zimbabwe Embassy in South Africa almost every week this month. They are demanding that Zimbabweans in the diaspora be allowed to vote and that the elections on March 29th be conducted under conditions that are free and fair. There are also demands for a new people driven Constitution and for a resolution of the economic crisis that has forced many Zimbabweans to look for better opportunities outside the country.
Munjodzi Mutandiri of the Zimbabwe Youth Network, organisers of the Wednesday event, said they plan to deliver a petition with 15 demands that they want the Zimbabwe authorities to address in the next two weeks. He said if the demands were not met their members and those from other supporting organisations would carry out an action that will shut down the embassy.
Mutandiri would not specify what this action would be. He simply said: "The action is already drafted on paper and we have started mobilising the people because we know how this government has acted in the past, very dishonestly. We've had enough. It's time to break the silence."
This is the same threat and demands that were delivered to the Zimbabwean ambassador to South Africa, Simon Khaya Moyo, by the Zimbabwe Revolutionary Youth Movement, organisers of the Thursday protest.
The Wednesday protest at the Zimbabwe Embassy will be from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon.
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