In the humid heat it was tempting to slope off from the Vigil and find a television to watch the second rugby test match between South Africa and the British Lions in Pretoria to see whether the Zimbabwean Tendai Mtawarira, known as ‘the Beast’, could repeat his heroics when he won the first test for the host country. 

But Vigil supporters were too fired up about another matter – the silly allegations on some loud-mouthed Zimbabwean exile websites that the Vigil and ROHR were behind the booing of Morgan Tsvangirai when he spoke to the UK diaspora in Southwark Cathedral last week. Anyone looking at videos of the occasion will see that the angry response was prompted by Mr Tsvangirai’s remarks and was spontaneous and could not possibly have been planned. 

The meeting’s organisers also sought to blame asylum seekers, accusing them of being selfish and not being up to date with the situation on the ground in Zimbabwe – the 'progress' that has been made. Well, frankly, with the abundant access to information that we have in the UK we sometimes feel that we have to tell people at home what is going on – that, for instance, the MDC Deputy Minister for Mines, Murisi Zwizwai, seems to have been co-opted by Zanu-PF in claiming that there is no evidence of killings in the Marange diamond fields.  

What upset the Zimbabwean exiles at Southwark Cathedral was this type of half truth being peddled by the MDC leadership.  We are not convinced that everything is ok, that Mugabe’s grip on power is being loosened or that human rights violations and farm invasions are not happening. 

The Vigil went ahead with our human rights demonstration outside the cathedral despite an extraordinary e-mail to us from an MDC organiser talking about possible violence. What was this about? The Vigil has been staging demonstrations at least once a week for seven years without any trouble.   

Among the efforts to destabilise the Vigil are predictable allegations of the misuse of money, most recently accusations of ‘selling’ letters to support asylum claims.  We have spelt out our policy before but here it is again:
1.       We do not have membership fees.
2.       We do not make any charge to committed supporters of the Vigil for letters.
3.       To people who have come less than 10 times but more than 5 (out of 350!) there is a fee of £10 to cover administration expenses for a detailed letter.
4.       To those who have come less than 6 times we are reluctant to say they are supporters but will write a one-line letter confirming they have attended. We charge £20 to discourage this.  

Now what happens to this money? No one draws a salary. Some of the money goes on administration expenses, some of it goes on fares and welfare expenditure for our supporters. The bulk goes to help ROHR and other Zimbabwean human rights causes as agreed by the finance committee and Vigil management team.   

The role of the Vigil and ROHR was discussed extensively at our very well-attended monthly forum held after the Vigil. Ephraim Tapa, President of ROHR, said the organisation was non-party political and was working with many partners on various platforms in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK. For further information see the ROHR press statement (see previous posting on this website). Vigil Co-ordinator Dumi Tutani was warmly applauded when he said we were being targeted for telling the truth but we would continue our demonstrations for free and fair elections for as long as it takes.  

Thanks to Jonathan Kariwoh for helping the management team with the register. Thanks also to Pamela Dunduru, Chair of ROHR West Bromwich branch and Diana Mtendereki also of West Bromwich for supplying soft drinks for Vigil supporters.

For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/ 

FOR THE RECORD:  167 signed the register.