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Presentation at Pre-African Union Summit African Civil Society Day in Solidarity with Zimbabwe
Gabriel Shumba, Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF)
June 28, 2007

Distinguished Delagates,
Civil Society Representatives,
Colleagues.

Allow me to express my profound gratitude for the solidarity and concern that you have shown to the suffering people of Zimbabwe today. This is even more poignant coming as it does on the heels of the touching support shown to the people of Dafur yesterday. As an exiled Zimbabwe human rights lawyer, I speak for the millions of Zimbabweans who have been forced into exile. You may perhaps know already that apart from the world's highest inflation, Zimbabwe is now producing highest number of immigrants in Africa today. On this point, the Zimbabwe Minister of Justice observed on Ghana radio last month that this attests to the excellence of Zimbabwe's educational system as most of the Zimbabweans who leave the country are in fact skilled professionals who are in high demand overseas and regionally. We need to interrogate this statement.

To begin with, I would like to point out that in South Africa alone, there are more than Zimbabwean 2.5 million asylum seekers, refugees and other immigrants. In Botswana it is estimated that there are about 800 000 Zimbabweans, and in the UK a similar number. Let me talk about those that have fled Zimbabwe to neighboring countries. Those who cannot obtain visas to South Africa risk all sorts of perils to get into Johannesburg. This includes drowning while crossing the Limpopo River. There is a considerable number of these who have been eaten by crocodiles, according to eye witness accounts. Others have been raped by predator gangs of criminals. Many have resorted to prostitution and crime.

There are also disabled Zimbabweans who have been forced out of their homeland, many of whom are found begging in Johannesburg and Pretoria. Children have also been abandoned at Beitbridge Border post, and nearly two hundred of these were deported with their mothers a few weeks ago. South Africa now deports about 4 000 Zimbabweans a week. Last year about a 100 000 were deported. Botswana deported 60 000 and conditions are equally bad, if not worse as some Zimbabweans are sleeping in caves at night in Botswana, in much the same way others are sleeping under bridges in SA. Would anybody voluntarily choose the risks and privations that I have described?

Many of us who fled Zimbabwe had the difficult choice of opting for exile or suffer torture, rape, starvation and possible death because of our government's intolerance to diversity of opinion. This is an indication that something has gone horribly wrong in post-independence Zimbabwe. I submit that what has gone wrong in my country today is the erosion of basic rights, the breakdown of the rule of law and crimes against humanity including torture of those that are not in agreement with the government of President Robert Mugabe and the ruling ZANU (PF) party. All this is what has forced over a quarter of our citizens into exile. May I also mention that this part of the population has now been that the government of Zimbabwe deliberately chose to disenfranchise. This significant segment of our population cannot have a say in the governance of their country.

[Personal testimony of Gabriel Shumba regarding his torture in Zimbabwe was then given]

Conclusion

Ladies and gentlemen, I conclude by positing that aspirations for a union government and a United States of Africa remain hollow, meaningless and unachievable if the respect for human dignity, civil liberties and good governance has not been improved. All that we as Zimbabweans are asking the continent to do is to assist us regain the freedoms that were ushered in by our independence in 1980: to enjoy all the rights that Ghanaians, South Africans and others enjoy, without fear of torture, rape and death.

I thank you

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