Citizens Lets Down by Economic Failure
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- Written by: John Burke
- Category: Branch Issues
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Zimbabwe’s health workers and teachers on Monday, June 20, 2022 went on strike over poor pay and working conditions as they rejected a 100 percent [see reasons below] salary increase offered by the government at the weekend.
Health workers such as nurses, junior doctors, and radiographers staged protests at the country’s biggest public hospital—Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in the capital Harare—as they began their indefinite strike. Unions representing health workers said the strike was a last resort after the government refused to negotiate with them since April last year.
“The Minister of Health and Child Care (Vice President Constantino Chiwenga) has never met any health employee and government continues to offer lies as opposed to what is prevailing on the ground,” Apex Health Council leader Tapiwanashe Kusotera told the protesting health workers on Monday.
“They have refused to listen to us and we refuse to work.”
On Tuesday, June 21, nurses also held demonstrations at major hospitals. The strike is the second walkout by health workers since the Covid-19 outbreak in Zimbabwe in 2020.In addition, Civil Servants have been pushing for a salary review citing high inflation, which rose to 131.7 percent in May. [according to Professor Steve Hanke, he calculates that inflation is at 365%] in addition the collapse of the currency [in which all Civil Servants are paid] relative to the US Dollar has fallen by over 96% since January 1st 2020!!
REMEMBER THAT THE ZIMBABWE DOLLAR WAS ISSUED IN A FANFARE OF LIES AT A CLAIMED RATE OF 1:1 to the US Dollar. Today its extimated at 700 ZimDollar to 1 USD!!
Stop These Deportations
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- Written by: John Burke
- Category: Branch Issues
- Hits: 249
The United Kingdom’s cruel and hostile asylum environment has given rise to yet another Home Office plan to deport people to Zimbabwe on a flight chartered on 2nd March 2022.
StatusNow4All[1] These Walls Must Fall [https://detention.org.uk]., MyRight2Vote, BARAC UK, RAPAR, CCC, Zapu, ROHR and ZHRO[2] and other organisations abhors this decision, made in the name of the Home Secretary, Priti Patel. DOWNLOAD the PDF of this Petition NOW
It is immoral:
These are just some of the factors of note in relation to those who are being rounded up for deportation right now:
- Some have been here a long time, as many as twenty years;
- Some will have had Refugee Leave, such was the compelling case they presented on arrival in UK, but the law, now, allow the Home Office to strip them of this, due to a conviction for particular offending behaviours [para 339 Immigration Rules].
- Deportation Orders are automatically made against people without British or Irish citizenship who have been given a prison sentence of more than a year
- Some of these people will have served their time in prison and on license like any other person with a conviction and have subsequently lived in the community for many years without re-offending – the bulk of these ‘crimes’ are old.
- They have been suffering the psychological damage and indignities of being on indefinite Immigration Bail with ankle tags, curfews, not allowed to work or study, and the ever-present threat of removal.
- Suicide amongst those in this situation is NOT uncommon.
2nd December - My Right to Vote
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- Written by: John Burke and Chief Ndweni
- Category: Zimbabwe Issues
- Hits: 1840
This article is published at 14:15 today [Thursday 2nd December 2021] AFTER the Petition Hand-Over to Boris Johnson and Co at 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, London. SW1A 2AA. This will appear automatically to allow the public to see the body of our petition for themselves. We feel it is a matter for public debate, that the Regime who have ruled with an 'iron fist' for 41 years in Zimbabwe needs to be exposed due to corruption, mismanagment, vote rigging, the prevention of a diaspora vote and gross human rights abuses.
Thereafter we may walk to the FCDO Offices to shout about why their faith in Zanu PF and Emmerson D Mnangagwa, and the Zanu PF 'cabal' is entirely misplaced! We will do this another day as the temperatures in London today was only 30C plus a modest wind-chill. We were all perishingly cold!
Order of the Day
We had congregated outside the Zimbabwe Embassy located at 429 The Strand, London WC2R 0JS from 11:00am onwards - or whatever time people arrived from all over the UK - those from Newcastle or Leeds, have got our sympathies for the length of journey. To keep costs down it is invariably by coach! Often leaving at midnight or the 'early' hours. Moses Mbano has done this trip several times!
With us today were Chief Ndiweni and many other free thinking Zimbabweans, and other supporters of justice and freedom!
By 13:30 [1:30pm] we moved off from the Embassy, via Trafalgar Square, to first Whitehall, then we congregated opposite the entrance to 10 Downing Street. We sang, danced and played the drum whilst we awaited the 14:00 timeslot to enter the security corden around 10 Downing St. A tale of woe for Moses Mbano [arriving from Newcastle], was that [strangely] the Home Office had prevented him from being in the 'Petitioner' group - therefore he was left outside at the Gate.
Each of the [now 5] Zimbabwean petitioners, Chief F Nhlanhla Ndiweni, John Burke, Rashiwe Bayisayi and Sarah Bayisayi and Moses Mbano [left at the Gate as mentioned above] had been vetted by the Diplomatic Police Unit up to 10 days prior to entry. They had photo-ID with them to support that vetting process. On our Flickr Album Page 2nd Dec 2021 you can see their progress, and of the rest of the day as a photo-log plus a few videos too!
Once beyond the gate to Downing Street the petitioners were at liberty [and we encoraged them to do so see the photos on the Flickr Album above] - to take photographs of themselves as a group and individually. Several of the photos at the door to Number 10, were actually taken by one of the Policemen there!
After they returned to the main group situated opposite the entrance to Downing Street, the petitioners were greeted with cheers and more music! ...and dancing! see video on our Flickr page above!
It was at that stage that this pre-arranged article with its link to the PDF Petition document became publicly available arounf 14:15. Please read, consider and circulate.
A short video after the Petition was delivered is avialable at this link to our Flickr Album page for the 2nd December 2021. You may need to click the video for it to play. Some very wise words from Chief Ndiweni
Those who braved the cold on Thursday were as follows: Moses Mbano, who arrived from Newcastle at 8:00am; Elector Zvorwadza; Zenzo Sibanda; Junior Madimure; Sarah Bayisayi; Rashiwe Bayisayi; John Burke; Chief F Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni, complete with Chief Badge/Insignia; Silvanos Mudzvova, our Playwright; Qiniso Sibanda, from Leeds; Beverley Mutandiro, our Political/Human Rights Liaison Co-ordinator; Stanley Tavaziva, for a flying visit; Chegika Phiri, from Doncaster; Emmanuel Dzingira, suffering bus delays; Handsen Chikowore and Tapiwa Muskwe.
4th August 2021 Vigil-Demo
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- Written by: Super User
- Category: Zimbabwe Issues
- Hits: 8170
The Wednesday Vigil has returned!
Due to a major policy change by the Home Office, and an apparent "deal" done in Zimbabwe, between the British Embassy and the Zanu PF ruling party - a serious demonstration was required. The Home Office has detained around 150 Zimbabweans since 5th July - this is a massive worry and undue stress on those trapped in the complexities and uncertainty of the UK Asylum process. See the quote from the Status Now group [please use the live web links below]
""Government attempts to justify their actions as a way of removing ‘criminals’, is both a fallacy and racist: we are reminded of the profound problems with policing, so thoroughly exposed through the Black Lives Matter Movement during 2020-21, the socioeconomic and cultural inequalities that become instrumental in people ending up before, and convicted by, the courts, lack of robust legal aid to enable people to defend themselves and, for those who have completed their prison sentences that have been delivered through that other arm of the Home Office, the criminal justice system, deportation is a double punishment."" [from the Status Now Blog dated 8th August 2021]
Following on from our activites of the 19th July 2021 which 'kicked-off' this campaign, the same group came together for a still bigger demonstration. We recorded 72 people attended, including some from Status Now - who came with their own banner. These groups were as follows, and acting under the umbrella of 'ZIMBABWE COMMUNITY APPEAL', MDCA [Movement for Democratic Change Alliance], ZAPU [Zimbabwe African People's Union], plus the Human Rights groups ROHR [Restoration Of Human Rights - Zimbabwe] and ZHRO [Zimbabwe Human Rights Organisation], plus several Church Groups were encouraged to attend.
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