Chamisa: I Warned Dewa Mavhinga Not To Return To Zimbabwe
MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa on Sunday said he had warned the late human rights activist Dewa Mavhinga against coming to Zimbabwe, a few days before he died.
Chamisa was addressing mourners at Mavhinga’s burial at his rural home in Chivhu yesterday.
Mavhinga, who was the Human Rights Watch director, resided in Johannesburg, South Africa.
He died a few days after he returned to Johannesburg from a research mission in Zimbabwe.
In his eulogy, Chamisa described Mavhinga as a resolute defender of human rights. He said:
I had told Dewa to defer his visit to Zimbabwe, but he insisted that he would come.
He told me that he was in the southern region visiting other countries including Mozambique.
He inquired why I was stopping him from coming to Zimbabwe. I also insisted that he should not come to Zimbabwe.
About four weeks ago, we held a virtual meeting with Dewa and three others for over an hour planning the way forward on the 2023 elections.
Dewa was a veteran, a stalwart, very resolute and a beast in fighting for human rights.
It is not possible to become a human rights defender without a human rights attacker.
He was a defender because our people are being attacked. We have been robbed as a country, as the whole world, as a generation.
Several senior opposition party members, civic society members, and human rights activists were present at Mavhinga’s funeral.
