ROHR Zimbabwe Scotland Branch Zoom meeting Saturday 22.05.2021 – Report

23^rd May 2021

On Saturday the 22^nd of May 2021, the Scotland Branch of the UK Chapter of Restoration Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe held a meeting via zoom. Vongayi Mufara (Organising Secretary) chaired the meeting. The minutes were taken by Masciline Mzondiwa and compiled by Alvina Chibhamu.

Register of attendance
Alvina Chibhamu(Chairperson),Olivia Chamboko (Vice -Chairperson),Thenjiwe Ndlovu (Information & Publicity Secretary), Masciline Mzondiwa (Secretary), Vongayi Mufara (Organising Secretary), Harriet Ndlovu (Treasurer).Guest from other branches were Delina Mutyambizi and Shalom Gunda (who joined us halfway through).

Welcome Remarks
Vongayi started the meeting at 14:00 hrs and welcomed all that joined us from other branches.

Agenda

1. Adoption of minutes previous meeting
2. Matters arising from minutes of previous meeting
3. Update on Human rights violations in Zimbabwe
4. Introduce Register to vote campaign
5. Finance update
6. Any other business

1. Adoption of minutes previous meeting

Minutes Approval
Vongayi announced the branch did not have a meeting in April due to quorum not being met. Minutes of March meeting were confirmed and adopted as a true record.

2. Matters arising from minutes of previous meeting

Alvina noted there were no matters arising from last time.

3. Update on Human rights violations in Zimbabwe

Olivia &Thenjiwe- April Update
Alvina & Harriet- May Update;  and they reported the following:
– 29^th March- the rising number of rape cases(approx. 40 cases reported monthly).
-Pedophile raping 18year old daughter, who is now 3months pregnant.
– 1^st April- Mabvuku, Tafara clocked 30years without tap water. Mercy Kazozwe their councilor said boreholes are there but too few to accommodate all the residence.
– 6^th April- Makomborero Haruzivishe was jailed for 14months for blowing a whistle (charged with inciting public violence) at the same court that let ZanuPF associates walk scot free for grave matters such as Henrietta Rushwaya for gold smuggling.
-6^th April -Mnangagwa sent his delegates to evict people in the village of Dinde, Hwange giving the Chinese investors the go ahead to start mining coal within Hwange National Park-destroying the tourist places and more families facing homelessness.
– 28^th April- Gladys Marima has albinism cancer and was kicked out by family members because her wound was not healing due to not receiving treatment. Parirenyatwa and Mpilo hospitals were the only one who could offer the chemo & radiotherapy, but due to covid they were forced to close down. Cancer is set to become the leading cause of death, over 5000 cancer cases recorded, overtaking HIV (Aids) due to the high cost of seeking cancer treatment, radiographers and oncologists.
– 24^thApril- Police disrupted a clean-up campaign being led by Jacob Ngarivhume. Police disrupted MDC Alliance provincial meeting in Epworth without giving any reason. Joana Mamombe back in Chikurubi prison, Celebrity Thandie Newton tweeted about this and the matter has received wide acclaim, the world is watching.
– 26^th April- Allan Moyo tweeted that he was arrested after appearing for a routine command, apparently he was just checking his time and the police were offended and arrested him.
– The refusal of prison official to release Mamombe to receive medical attention
– 27^th April- Zimbabwe Human Rights Lawyer (ZHRL), Darlington Marange confirmed that a client Vongayi Tome who was detained at Chikurubi prison was unwell and she was refused treatment.
– 28^th April- Hopewell Chin’ono was vindicated of all charges. He is engaging his lawyer to sue the government.
– 29^thApril- The Zimbabwe Gender Commission bemoaned the increase in torture by security forces
– 30^th April- the lawyer representing Ngadziore and Chiriga was arrested and detained whilst he was consulting with his 2 clients for allegedly making noise in the corridors; the police claimed he was undermining their authority.
– 4^thMay- marked 131 appearances in court for Joana Mamombe in a period of 12 months.
– 9^thMay- in Matabeleland, people not receiving food aid if you are not a ZanuPF member, residents are being manipulated to join ZanuPF.
– 11^th May- teachers in Mutoko were terrorised at work by ZanuPF youth
– 20^thMay- former Deputy Minister of information Energy Mudoti has complained that there are members in the government allocating housing stands for themselves.
– In Lupane, a 99 old man murdered a 5 year old; he seems to be mentally disturbed.
– 22^ndMay- President Mnangagwa held a rally in Gokwe, people were crowded and people were not observing any social distance rules.
– Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) noted in April recorded 3 incidents of distraction of political events for the opposition parties. 88 cases of harassment and intimidation, 23 cases of discrimination during 8 distributions many of which point to an increase intensions within the community.
– Delina added that Takudzwa Ngadziwore had fled the country and he is in the UK now. Before he fled the country students were arrested for wearing their ZINASU t-shirts.

4. Introduce Register to Vote campaign

Olivia announced the branch’s intention to hold a campaign to register to vote. Spreading the word we can fundraise and invest in t-shirts for youths in Zimbabwe to be encouraged to vote. The suggestion was if they registered to vote they would win a t-shirt. Olivia took the initiative to engage Hopewell Chin’ono who is willing to help us with sharing the campaign as he has got a large platform. Delina suggested that we can record videos to accompany our campaign and also spread the word in our different languages so that our campaign can be far reaching- small towns, villages, those people who do not have access to social media etc. Vongayi concurred with the videos idea as we could then use them to circulate via WhatsApp. The committee agreed to take the discussion further with the design and the message for the t-shirt. We would also need to find a name for our campaign. So far the suggestions are; #RegisterToVoteZW, #YourVoteYourVoice, 2023 I’m going to vote- #MyVoteMyRight. Thenjiwe came up with the suggestion of putting the logo at the front and #MyVoteMyVoice at the back. Organising Secretary to seek approval from the board when we have agreed on the message to go on the t-shirt as it is the ROHR name and logo that will be on these t-shirts.

Olivia encouraged all members to approach other activists with large platforms to help us with our campaign e.g. Jacob Ngarivhume, Wellence Mujuru, Rufaro Kaseke etc. Delina added we could even invite them to one of our meetings to see how we can collaborate with them for our campaign. Another channel would be to write a letter on headed paper so that activists are comfortable engaging with us unlike individuals where they are likely to be very skeptical. Vongayi said that we should own the campaign and take full responsibility and only introduce it to the wider ROHR community when he have finessed all the details of how we want the campaign.

5. Finance Update

Harriet encouraged everyone to be up to date with their subscriptions even if we donot have the account at the moment.We can also save it in our tins at home until everything is sorted. Vongayi announced we received a second grant from Tripod Training and suggested we channel funds acquired from our Tripod Training contributions to this campaign- everyone in agreement. Treasurer to liaise with Mr Panyika Karimanzira to facilitate this when we have finalised the details of the campaign.

6. Any Other Business

Delina announced the launch of the Constitution of the Law Centre (CLC) and some of the members had the privilege to attend. She suggested we can be part of the narrative and have direct connection with the activists on the ground e.g. Youngerson Matete, Namatai Kwekweza etc.

Alvina suggested we engage the new SNP Minister- Maggie Chapman who is from Zimbabwe,  who impressively said her oaths in Shona. She fled from Zimbabwe and she would empathise with us. We also have Paul Westwood who fled Zimbabwe in similar circumstances. We could invite her to our zoom meetings to have a one-to-one chat. Delina added that inviting her to our meeting may be good idea as she might have first hand information of what is happening in Zimbabwe.

Alvina also mentioned event of the month #NoToDictatorship campaign in Zimbabwe hosted by Jestina Mukoko and Pastor Evan Mawarire. It was well publicized, well organized and with nearly 700 people in attendance, along with very powerful speakers on the platform.

Other events include the #TheseWallsMustFall campaign organized by Right to Remain in collaboration with other organisations such as #StatusNow where members of ROHR were present and were guest speakers (Mr Panyika Karimanzira and Vengayi Mutsawu). Glasgow has also been on the map for their fantastic show of solidarity with refugees and asylum seekers against dawn raids. Everyone shared the same sentiments.

Delina also reiterated that we could get Namatai to connect us with Tafadzwa Ngadziore so he can give us first hand information from back in Zimbabwe.

Vongayi updated on notable dates so that we can work on doing something on these:
25^th May- Africa Day
4^th June- Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression
7^th June- World Day Against Child Labour
13^th June – International Albinism Day
19^th June- International Day  for the Elimination of Sexual Violence
20^th June- World Refugee Day

Alvina announced the Next meeting is on the 19^th of June 2021

All agenda items and any other business having been exhausted, Vongayi thanked everyone for attending and declared the meeting closed at 16:20 hrs.

To view pictures taken at the event, follow this link.

By: Information & Publicity Department