De Lille - ‘Zimbabwe needs a Constitution for Zimbabweans’
08-08-2007, 16H00, Tinyiko Manyisa, the ID Provincial Chairperson for Gauteng, says ‘there is no doubt in my mind that we are faced with a humanitarian crisis and we have to do everything in our power to free Zimbabwe.’
Manyisa’s comments come after he led a top-level ID Gauteng delegation
on visits to the Methodist Church in Pritchard Street, a new home for
over a thousand Zimbabwean refugees, and the Home Affairs office in
Harrison Street, Johannesburg.
‘Many of our Zimbabwean brothers and sisters told us they had been brutalised by the army, the police and other forces of tyranny that have been created by their oppressive regime,’ says Manyisa.
‘They were too afraid to disclose their names to us for fear of being deported back to Zimbabwe. One man said: “if Mugabe can be ousted from power then we will be able to go back freely to Zimbabwe and rebuild our country.”
‘Others condemned Mugabe’s approach to the economic crises in Zimbabwe,’ Manyisa says.
He says it is ‘unnecessary to go to Zimbabwe to understand that there is a crisis – we have got millions of Zimbabweans here who can explain the situation.’
He likened it ‘to the time of our own South African struggle, where a liberation army camp in Zimbabwe was as good a place as any to find out how we were suffering in South Africa.
‘It is a humanitarian crisis that is happening in Zimbabwe and has spilled over into our country. A problem in Zimbabwe is therefore a problem in South Africa as our poor compete for scarce resources,’ Manyisa says.
The ID would develop ‘a solution-driven campaign to help free Zimbabwe.’
ID President Patricia de Lille, who is set to meet the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the next two weeks, says, ‘Zimbabwe needs a Constitution that protects the rights of Zimbabweans and not the whims of Robert Mugabe.
‘When we meet with the MDC we will be asking – “what can we do to help the people of Zimbabwe and therefore the people of South Africa and Southern Africa as a whole?”
‘After that we will set up a meeting with Zanu-PF,’ she said.
Released by Tinyiko Manyisa – 082 454 7020
‘Many of our Zimbabwean brothers and sisters told us they had been brutalised by the army, the police and other forces of tyranny that have been created by their oppressive regime,’ says Manyisa.
‘They were too afraid to disclose their names to us for fear of being deported back to Zimbabwe. One man said: “if Mugabe can be ousted from power then we will be able to go back freely to Zimbabwe and rebuild our country.”
‘Others condemned Mugabe’s approach to the economic crises in Zimbabwe,’ Manyisa says.
He says it is ‘unnecessary to go to Zimbabwe to understand that there is a crisis – we have got millions of Zimbabweans here who can explain the situation.’
He likened it ‘to the time of our own South African struggle, where a liberation army camp in Zimbabwe was as good a place as any to find out how we were suffering in South Africa.
‘It is a humanitarian crisis that is happening in Zimbabwe and has spilled over into our country. A problem in Zimbabwe is therefore a problem in South Africa as our poor compete for scarce resources,’ Manyisa says.
The ID would develop ‘a solution-driven campaign to help free Zimbabwe.’
ID President Patricia de Lille, who is set to meet the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the next two weeks, says, ‘Zimbabwe needs a Constitution that protects the rights of Zimbabweans and not the whims of Robert Mugabe.
‘When we meet with the MDC we will be asking – “what can we do to help the people of Zimbabwe and therefore the people of South Africa and Southern Africa as a whole?”
‘After that we will set up a meeting with Zanu-PF,’ she said.
Released by Tinyiko Manyisa – 082 454 7020
