It’s not every day that you get an opportunity to confront a dictator in close proximity.
As a
human rights activist my dream came true when I first heard the news that
Emmerson Mnangagwa, the despotic President of Zimbabwe was to attend the COP26 Climate
summit in Glasgow, Scotland from the 1st of November 2021 to 14th
November 2021 (That is what we heard in the early days but it later turned out
that he was to attend until the 3rd November at the very latest).
I
relished the opportunity to confront him face to face. I cannot mention some of
the things that raced through my mind, lest I fall foul of the law.“Evil to the
hilt” is the best I can say of them within the confines of the law.
You
know, I can trace all my suffering to this evil man, Emmerson Mnangagwa and his
ZANU-PF party. I am here in the UK because of him and his party. I hail from a
country where sunshine is a given, yet I find myself in a foreign country that
is not only cold, but where the immigration system is deliberately hostile. I
have had to live like an unwanted person in a foreign land for what seems to be eternity and I blame it all on Emmerson Mnangagwa and Robert Mugabe before him. Infact,
I should be saying “ZANU-PF” because it is the umbrella under which both evil
men fall.
It is
hard enough being Zimbabwean in these times, but it is much worse being from
the minority in Matabeleland. It is almost like a curse. Genocide happened in
our part of the country in the 80’s authored by Robert Mugabe and the very Emmerson Mnangagwa who was then Minister of State Security. Lest I digress, I will not dwell on it much in this piece
except to name it - Gukurahundi. I will leave it for another
day.
Back to
COP26, when I heard the Devil Emmerson Mnangagwa would attend, I braced myself
for a big fight. I relished the opportunity to confront him. I imagined all
sorts of scenarios and possibilities and, strangely, one of them involved raw
eggs.
I cannot
describe the excitement but Monday 1st November 2021 and Tuesday 2nd
November 2021 will forever be etched in my mind for I was part of a
demonstration at COP26 where, together with more than a hundred other
Zimbabweans we were able to confront Mnangagwa as well as tell the true
Zimbabwean story to the rest of the world. We thwarted his scheduled attendance
at a gala meant for him at Trades Hall in Glasgow on Tuesday 2nd
November 2021. We exposed him for the devil he is and we got international
press coverage in the process.
I would
like to thank my fellow ROHR Zimbabwe members, MDCA members, ZHRO members, ZAPU
members and indeed independent or non-aligned Zimbabweans that all came
together to make our demonstration over the 2 days such a resounding success.
I have
received threats after that and so have many of my fellow demonstrators but so
far I count myself relatively lucky because some have had worse experience. For
example Shepherd Yuda’s car was vandalized the night he arrived back home in Middlesbrough.
His second car was pasted with row eggs. Vongayi Mufara was awake the whole
night on Tuesday 2nd November 2021 into the morning of Wednesday 3rd
November 2021 because some people were making strange intimidating noises
outside her bedroom window. Nontokozo Malaba Ncube, just like me, was receiving strange
calls from strange +263 and +44 numbers. Your guess is as good as mine as to
who the perpetrators are but I cannot mention them lest I jeopardize ongoing
investigations.
We remain resolute in our quest for the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe. I for one will not be deterred by the threats as long as I am not physically in Zimbabwe.
The struggle continues.
About the author:-
Emmaculate Tshuma
is a Zimbabwean human rights activist based in the United Kingdom. She is a
member of Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe and belongs the North
Branch of the UK Chapter. She can be contacted via email; - emmahtshuma_05@yahoo.com
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