South Africans take note! Cape Town protest planned for tomorrow (Thursday, 17th April)

These guys are planning to protest Thabo Mbeki’s “no crisis” statement – remember – the one that got me so upset. With this, and what avaaz have planned, and the London protests coming up, I’m beginning to feel a bit better.

South African readers, please take note for yourselves and alert people in Cape Town to this planned protest via your blogs and email. Everyone else, email your South African friends and family in Cape Town and get them to go along. If you’re in the Diaspora, get your South African friends there to email their friends in Cape Town. Roll out the message!

The protest is between 12 and 2pm so couldn’t you stretch your lunch hours and attend? Take cameras and send us pictures so Zimbabweans can see the support for them in South Africa despite what Mbeki said.

PASSOP and TAC formally invite you to join us in Protest!

Who: Everyone who believes in Truth and Justice

What: To Protest ongoing Xenophobic Attacks on Immigrants in South Africa AND Thabo Mbeki’s “No Crisis in Zimbabwe” Statement.

When: 1200-1400, Thursday, April 17, 2008

Where: Outside the Cape Town International Convention Centre

Why:

The delays surrounding the presidential election results in Zimbabwe are adding tension to the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Protests and public gatherings have been banned by the government, farms are being looted, war veterans have stated they will do “whatever it takes” to make sure Mugabe wins the run-off election and reports of arrests and torture of citizens who supported and voted for the MDC are beginning to appear in the news.

The ZEC has moved the ballots to an undisclosed location while performing recounts on contested results; meanwhile, South Africa’s president has continued to be content in using quiet diplomacy to deal with the increasingly grave situation in Zimbabwe.

On Saturday, Mbeki claimed there is “no crisis in Zimbabwe,” and urged people to remain patient and wait for the official results to be released.

Monday, the Zimbabwean High Court rejected the Movement for Democratic Change’s petition to force the electoral commission to release the results. The delay itself is a justice crisis. This delay is creating a human rights crisis.

Mbeki’s failure to denounce the actions of Mugabe and the ZEC is in direct conflict to the very principles he must defend and protect as president of South Africa – those of truth and justice.

His failure to exert direct pressure on Mugabe harms both Zimbabwe and South Africa. There are no ARVs in Zimbabwe, a country with a high HIV prevalence, and the hospitals have no medicines, all because of economic mis-management; this is a crisis.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwean immigrants continue to live in fear in South Africa.

Xenophobic attacks on Zimbabwean immigrants occurred this weekend in Diepsloot. At least 30 shacks were destroyed and more than 100 people displaced. It was several hours after the attacks had started before the police arrived. They were seen laughing and arrested 20 Zimbabweans for not having proper documentation but no South Africans for looting and destroying personal property.

The police disrespected and disregarded the rights of immigrants. Their actions were completely unacceptable and unjust. We are fully aware that there have been no policemen disciplined following the attack on the Methodist Church and that this places police above the law.

The situation at Home Affairs is so backlogged and corrupt that most Zimbabweans do not have the opportunity to put in their application for asylum. The fault lies with the South African government, not with the immigrants. Yet it is the immigrants that are punished, brutalized and degraded by the citizens and police of South Africa.

The inter-parliamentary union is meeting in the international convention centre. We will call upon parliamentarians to publicly condemn the situation in Zimbabwe.

We invite you to join us in protest this Thursday, April 17, 2008 at noon outside the Cape Town International Convention Centre to stand up for truth and justice for Zimbabweans living in South Africa and Zimbabwe. We hope you will join us in protesting to force the South African government to act on the situation in Zimbabwe and to accept and document the influx of immigrants from Zimbabwe until the situation in their country is resolved.

This entry was posted by Hope on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 2:08 pm. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.