This article is published at 14:15 [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.
Since our petition hand over there have been exciting further developments; so WATCH THIS SPACE in the new year!!