Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Zimbabwe Solidarity movement marched through the streets of Durban on Monday to hand a petition to city officials calling for an end to police brutality, arrests and the disappearance of peaceful activists in Zimbabwe.
The group of activists, based in Durban is hoping that its protest, called “Enough is Enough”, will gain sympathy among South Africa authorities and show support and solidarity with their compatriots in Zimbabwe, who they claim are victims of violence from police and state security when protesting.
Hillary Musarurwa, a Zimbabwean national who is a social entrepreneur and a youth activist, who led the march, said: “Our march is in solidarity with the citizens back home who have found a voice to speak out against the deteriorating socio-political and economic situation in Zimbabwe.
“Our solidarity protests are to make the world aware of the Zimbabwean crisis and see how its citizens have been made global citizens.”
“The situation is dire back home, corruption is rampant and the activists voicing their opinions are being silenced and some have even disappeared.”
He said one such activist was Itai Dzamara, a journalist and political activist who disappeared in March last year, who “remains unaccounted for”.
“We endorse the demands made by the citizens of Zimbabwe. We call upon the Zimbabwean government to accede to these demands and address the raised issues as a matter of urgency,” Musarurwa said.
He said the South African government had an obligation to grant protection to refugees and others in need of protection under various UN conventions.
“We are concerned with the stance taken by the South African government to reduce the number of refugee reception centres that accept applications from Zimbabwean citizens.
“We call on the South African government to allow other refugee reception centres across the country to accept and process applications from Zimbabwean citizens,” said Musarurwa.
He said Zimbabwe was experiencing a deteriorating socio-economic situation where poverty and social injustices were on the rise.
He added that the situation was compounded by rampant corruption, where the government had not done anything to arrest ministers or government officials caught up in corrupt deals.
“We have an Auditor-General’s report that provides clear evidence of corruption and looting, but no one has been brought to book,” said Musarurwa.