|
Back to Index
Planned
demonstrations a major flop
Youth Forum
March 03, 2011
Fear-struck
Zimbabweans on Tuesday ignored anonymous calls by as yet to be identified
concerned Zimbabweans who have been agitating for Egypt style massive
civilian demonstrations against the three decades of ZANU-PF dictatorship.
Numerous anonymous calls had been making rounds on social networks
like the Facebook, Twitter, SMSs and e-mails calling on all Zimbabweans
to assemble at the Harare Gardens before marching into the central
business district. The Harare Gardens, the supposed rendezvous for
the demonstration was largely deserted by both citizens and law
enforcement agents on the day of the supposed riots.
Zimbabwe's partisan
secucrats were very conspicuous by their absence from the Harare
Gardens, a sign that they had not taken calls for a demonstration
seriously. Interviews with ordinary citizens by the Youth Forum
Information and Publicity Department revealed that most citizens
were frightened on Monday when more than 15 state-of-the-art armored
vehicles and other war artilleries were displayed through the CBD
by the police and army in a slow-moving convoy that was allegedly
heading towards the Zimbabwean presidential palace. The other reason
for the zero-turnout is largely attributed to the fact that the
agitators for the peaceful demonstration had largely remained mysterious
although the call remains in synch with the suffering masses of
Zimbabwe who survive on less than US $1 a day. Random surveys in
some pro-democratic civil society movements only revealed some latent
support for the call but no one could identify the source of the
call leading to fears of a poorly organized act that could lead
to unnecessary casualties as the state machinery descends heavily
on unarmed civilians.
In an attempt
to get the feeling about the demonstration from other corners of
the country the Youth Forum called its members in all the other
provinces. Memory in Chipinge said life was normal in Chipinge town
and there was no direct reference to Tuesday's anticipated demonstration
although ordinary people continued to marvel the courage that continues
to be exhibited by the people of the Middle East. Dorcas in Gwanda
town said news of the massive demonstration had not reached her
town and life was just normal. In all the other areas citizens were
alleged to be going on as usual although there were expressions
of interest to see peaceful protests in Zimbabwe by certain sections
of the youth community.
Meanwhile, the Youth
Forum Youth Go Register to Vote Campaign continues to scale new
heights with the innovative SMS facility now reaching to more than
30 000 direct recipients who in turn would be expected to urge their
peers to brave the Registrar General's bureaucracy and get registered
as voters in any future elections. The campaign has been running
since October 2010 and is set to go on until Zimbabwe has a legitimate
government that is derived from a free and fair ballot. Most of
the target beneficiaries of the campaign are young people in the
rural areas, farming and mining areas and youth in urban high density
areas. The campaign aims at ensuring that 1 000 000 new and first
time voters will have been added in the voters roll well before
elections to mitigate on attempts to rig the poll by ZANU-PF.
Visit the Youth
Forum fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
