ROHR Zimbabwe Manchester/Liverpool Monthly Branch Meeting - Liverpool

11th November 2017

ROHR Zimbabwe Manchester/Liverpool Monthly Branch Meeting held on the 11th November 2017 Report.

The branch meeting was held at: Liverpool Central Library, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EW

Opening

The general meeting of ROHR Zimbabwe UK Chapter Manchester Branch was called to order at 15:12 by Karen Nhakaniso, the branch chairperson.

Members Present

Karen Nhakaniso, Rufaro Zondesa, Farai Nhakaniso, Silvanos Mudzvova, Fortunate Sibanda, Petronella Mahachi, Gordon Changata, Weston Mupfururirwa, Thomas Machingauta and Sabelo Mpofu

Apologies

Delina Mutyambizi, Tabeth Mabiza-Nhakaniso, Panyika Karimanzira

Karen Nhakaniso

• Started proceedings with a welcome and introduction of all members present.
• Agenda of the day was read out:

1. What we have done as a branch so far in 2017

2. Announcement of Committee – to advice of the vacant posts

3. What we have ahead

4. MP Campaign (Meet your Member of Parliament Campaign)

5. ROHR Zimbabwe Christmas Party

6. Suggestions for activities for the Branch 2018 programme

7. Committee Selection – to fill vacant posts

What we have done as a branch so far in 2017

Rufaro Zondesa:

• We have held our monthly meetings every second Saturday of each month consistently
• We started a rotation on the venues for our Branch Meetings, which started with the October meeting that was held in Leeds, followed by today’s meeting being held in Liverpool.
• We have held demonstrations arranged by our Branch as below:

DiasporaVoteMyRight demonstration held in Leeds,

#Take2Zimbabwe Independence demonstration held in Manchester,

#LetsDoSomethingAboutIt demonstration held in Leeds.

• The plan going forward is to hold meetings and demonstrations simultaneously to help raise the profile of the Branch as well as ROHR Zimbabwe as an International Organisation.

Farai Nhakaniso:

• We attended the National General Meeting in Leicester and the 10th ROHR Zimbabwe Anniversary Meeting in Nottingham.
• We partnered with other civic organisations in demonstrations outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London which concluded with the handing over of a Petition at No. 10 Downing Street.
• Our biggest achievement as a branch would be our “Meet your MP campaign.”  As this directly puts our concerns about Human Rights in Zimbabwe into the heart of Westminster.

Silvanos Mudzvova:

• As the organising secretary expansion was the focus for the year, and we have managed to grow from where we began the year.
• We have stretched out from Manchester branch to include Leeds, Stoke on Trent and Liverpool.
• Put forward to the chairlady that we change the branch name from Manchester-Liverpool Branch to Northern Branch (this will include the towns that we currently have members: Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Stoke-on-Trent, Glasgow.

Karen Nhakaniso:

• The branch was relaunched in February 2017, Manchester Branch became Manchester-Liverpool and Branch, but as of today’s meeting, all are in favour to be known as the Northern Branch.
• The branch has been renamed from Manchester-Liverpool Branch to the Northern Branch.
• We have managed to get Leeds up and running, Liverpool has members now as well as Stoke on Trent where we intend to hold the next branch meeting in January.
• Second item on the Agenda, The structure of the committee.

Announcement of Committee – to advice of the vacant posts

Karen Nhakaniso:

• Currently the committee of the now ‘Northern’ branch is as follows;

• Chairperson: Karen Nhakaniso
• Vice Chairperson: Rufaro Zondesa
• Secretary: Shelton Mhlanga
• Organising secretary: Silvanos Mudzvova
• Information and Publicity: Farai Nhakaniso
• Fundraising: Zanele Ncube
• National Organising Secretary: Delina Mutyambizi (Branch advisor)

• From the above, we have quite a few positions that need to be filled up.
• At the end of the meeting we shall announce these positions and hold elections.
• Next on the Agenda, what we have ahead.

What we have ahead

Karen Nhakaniso:

• We have been appointed by the UK National committee to host the Christmas party, and we shall discuss this in detail.
• We shall be holding our meetings on a city to city monthly rotation with the Northern Branch to ensure fairness in terms of travel as well as engage as much people as possible.
• Our next Branch meeting will be in January as next month we are hosting the National Event in Manchester.
• Next on the agenda, ‘Meet your MP Campaign.’

MP Campaign (Meet your Member of Parliament Campaign)

Karen Nhakaniso:

• It’s a campaign started by the Northern Branch and the aim is to have everyone in the branch to have met and presented or contacted their MPs before it fully rolls out to other branches.
• The MPs are thrilled with knowing about the issue we are raising about Zimbabwe, and we have received positive feedback from the 4 Members of Parliament we have met so far.
• We need to get more MPs on board to start a conversation in parliament.

Silvanos Mudzvova:

• We need to reach a target at least 10 MPs
• It becomes easier to approach MPs should challenges befall our members
• They would give an impact if we were to hold a demo and have an MP coming, or publicizing our event via Twitter
• The MP campaign will bolster the name of our organisation and thus the campaign is designed to have a long and lasting relationship with our MPs.
• If in your area you are short of ROHR Zimbabwe Members to accompany you when going to present the letter, contact members of the committee and we will mobilise members who will travel to represent the organisation with you on presenting the letter to your MP.

Gordon Changata:

• Asked to get the letter sent out to him as soon as possible

Petronella Mahachi:

• All MPs, Labour or Conservative are thrilled with the issue of Zimbabwe and thus the campaign should gain traction with all MPs.
• The actual letter itself does not have the personal address of the person presenting the letter – can this be included.
• My MP was interested in knowing more information and even asked for links to the ROHR Zimbabwe blog.
• She was keen on building an ongoing relationship not just for the letter only, and encouraged that the more letters the ministers get, the more they must deal with the issues brought forward.
• Offered support for anyone in Liverpool when presenting their letter.

Karen Nhakaniso:

• For the next letters to be sent out, I will ask Mr Karimanzira to add residential addresses of the individuals presenting the letter.

Farai Nhakaniso:

• The letters need to have the residential address as with his MP, he had to then show that he was a constituent and thus important to add on the letter.
• The letter can be presented by a non-ROHR Zimbabwe member, but it will still have the letterhead of the organisation.
• We need to set a deadline to then contact Kate Hoey, who represents Zimbabwe in parliament, whom we will then present/send a letter after a minimum of 10 MPs have been presented with the letter.
• In the letter, we are to attach all the names of MPs who have been given the letters.

Karen Nhakaniso:

• January meeting can be our deadline and give time to talk to other organisations, whilst we organise a meeting with Kate Hoey.

Silvanos Mudzvova:

• The North branch should now push for this campaign and see to it that all branches get on board fully.
• Suggested to appoint a committee that will be responsible for the ‘Meet your MP campaign.’

Farai Nhakaniso:

• We have been discussing with Delina Mutyambizi that there should be someone responsible for pushing for the campaign.
• We should not leave this to national committee to push forward the campaign.

Rufaro Zondesa:

• Suggested that at least one member from Liverpool should be in this committee

Committee Responsible for the MP Campaign

• Mr Gordon Changata was nominated and seconded, he accepted the nomination.
• Petronella Mahachi was nominated and seconded, she accepted the nomination.
• Sabelo Mpofu was nominated and seconded, he accepted the nomination.
• Thomas Machingauta was nominated and seconded, he declined the nomination at this point in time.

Karen Nhakaniso

• The committee responsible for the MP campaign is selected as follows;
• Gordon Changata
• Petronella Mahachi
• Sabelo Mpofu
• The 3 will be spearheading the Meet your MP campaign, working closely with the Northern Branch committee as well as Mr Panyika Karimanzira.
• Mr. Panyika Karimanzira shall be made aware of this development.

• Next item on agenda, ROHR Zimbabwe Christmas Party.

ROHR Zimbabwe Christmas Party

Karen Nhakaniso:

• The date is set on Saturday the 16th of December and we as the Northern Branch shall be hosting the event.

Silvanos Mudzvova:

• Information from the ROHR Zimbabwe National Executive is to say all other meetings and events have been put on hold for the month of December 2017 in preparation for this event.
• It is up to the branch to come up with a programme to make the event an engaging and educative one but keeping the party theme.
• We need a session with organisations, such as Right to Remain, that help with issues of immigrants in Detention. This is a Human Rights issue that would attract people outside ROHR Zimbabwe circles to attend the event on the 16th December 2017.
• Women have suffered abuse at the hands of some UK based Activists, as a result a vast majority do not take part in activism. We can get this on our agenda with organisations that are working with women to address this and pave a way forward that will see to their engagement.

Petronella Mahachi:

• Asked where we are going to hold the party and the meeting.

Silvanos Mudzvova:

• We need to agree on the venue as a branch.
• There is one restaurant/pub called Raka Raka in Manchester where all catering is taken care of, and meals are affordable.
• We can change the environment of the venue, and we can ask to do a barbeque.

Farai Nhakaniso:

• The venue is free, and it is owned by a Zimbabwean thus it will serve typical Zimbabwean dishes.
• We have spoken to the owner provisionally, and we will have full control of the venue from about 12:00 till about 17:00 if we as a branch agree.
• The venue has a projector and sitting area should there be need for presentations.

Karen Nhakaniso

• Everyone has agreed to Raka Raka as the venue for our Christmas Party.
• We await approval from the National as well as the dates and we will communicate accordingly.
• Next on agenda, Suggestions for activities for the Branch 2018 programme

Suggestions for activities for the Branch 2018 programme

Petronella Mahachi:

• To plan for our demonstrations for the summer period as according to our ROHR blog, most demonstrations were held in the summer.
• If we are to have marches, they tend to pull crowds more.
• There is a march that happened sometime in June, where it was various organisations doing one big march here in Liverpool. It would be good in ROHR Zimbabwe gets in on this.
• Petronella to do some research on this event and will get back to the Organising Secretary or Information and Publicity Officer.

Karen Nhakaniso:

• If we plan for demonstrations in each city, let us have representatives talk to the councils for clearance in advance to avoid a situation like today, where our demonstration failed as we failed to get clearance on time.

Silvanos Mudzvova:

• The plan for 2018 as the Northern Branch, we want to expand.
• Let us have a plan for each city we want to target, like in Manchester in July, there was a festival which would have been relevant to hold the meeting in Manchester in that month.
• We need to plan in terms of areas we need to target and start making necessary arrangements to reach these cities.

Petronella Mahachi:

• There is a women’s group on Facebook for Zimbabwean females where people are willing to make a difference but do not know how to get involved with issues in Zimbabwe.
• There’s a lady in Liverpool she knows, Petronella will get in contact with her.

Silvanos Mudzvova:

• If Karen Nhakaniso and Petronella Mahachi can tap into the women’s group on Facebook, we as ROHR Zimbabwe need to be the first organisation to clarify on the women abuse.
• Women abuse is the main drawback when it comes to activism and participation of ladies in civic organisations such as ours.
• We need to create awareness with a flyer for the Christmas Party specifically designed for women who have been abused.

Farai Nhakaniso:

• We need to hold a meeting to discuss on the programme for Christmas Party and how to advertise for it.
• There are other organisations we need to make part and parcel of the Christmas party.

Karen Nhakaniso

• Last item on the agenda, Committee Selection – to fill vacant posts

Committee Selection – to fill vacant posts

• The following posts are vacant in our Branch Committee and we intend on filling these today.

1. Treasurer
2. Deputy Secretary
3. Deputy Organising Secretary
4. Deputy Information and Publicity
5. Fundraiser
6. 3 Committee members

• Karen Nhakaniso put it to the floor for nominations and volunteers

• The following was the outcome of the committee

1. Deputy Organising Secretary - Sabelo Mpofu
2. Deputy Information and Publicity - Petronella Mahachi
3. Fundraiser - Fortunate Sibanda
4. Committee member 1 - Gordon Changata
5. Committee member 2 - Thomas Machingauta

Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 16:40 by Karen Nhakaniso. The next meeting will be in Manchester on the 16th of December 2017 with the time to be confirmed.

To view pictures taken at the event follow link below: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rohr_zimbabwe__manchester/albums/72157689255311164

Minutes typed by: Rufaro Zondesa

Vice Chairperson ROHR Zimbabwe UK Chapter Manchester/Liverpool Branch

Cover Picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rohr_zimbabwe__manchester/38412998161/in/album-72157689255311164/