Some Zimbabweans are planning to hold a two-day demonstration in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, to protest against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s upcoming assumption of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairmanship next month.
As reported by NewZimbabwe.com, the planned demonstration is set to take place at Lusaka’s Mulungushi International Conference Centre on July 11 and 12.
The protestors have chosen to stage the demonstration outside of Zimbabwe due to concerns that protesting within the country could result in arrests, incarceration, physical harm, or even death.
A poster circulating online reads: “No to ED’s SADC Chairmanship. Zimbabwe is under a military dictatorship characterised by corruption, nepotism, poverty, and open repression. Let us rise up.”
Mnangagwa and the ruling ZANU PF party have made it clear that they will not tolerate any form of dissent or opposition ahead of the upcoming SADC Summit in August, where Mnangagwa is expected to assume the chairmanship of the regional bloc.
As a result of this crackdown, more than 70 members and supporters of the main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), are currently languishing in remand prisons following their arrest on June 16th.
They have been charged with participating in a gathering with the intent to promote violence, breaches of peace or bigotry, as well as disorderly conduct.
Earlier this week, the prominent human rights organization, Human Rights Watch (HRW), urged SADC to speak out against the intensified crackdown on the opposition and civil society organizations by the Zimbabwean authorities, ahead of the regional bloc’s upcoming summit in Harare.
According to HRW, since Mnangagwa assumed power through a military coup in 2017, his government has committed serious human rights violations and has demonstrated a failure or unwillingness to institute lasting human rights reforms.
The rights group called on SADC to use the Harare summit as an opportunity to address the deteriorating human rights situation in Zimbabwe and to press the Mnangagwa government to end its crackdown on dissent and uphold fundamental freedoms.
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