Zimbabwe
Debate between Anne Main and Liz McInnes(5 years, 10 months ago)
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Mrs Anne Main (in the Chair)
Order. I know that the hon. Lady might have wanted to speak in this debate, but there was a lot of time for her to do so. Interventions need to be brief.
Liz McInnes
I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. She has highlighted several issues, one of which is the hope that existed in Zimbabwe when Robert Mugabe finally left his position as President. Sadly, I think we have all become a little bit like the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), going from optimistic about the future to slightly pessimistic.
Zimbabwean people have expressed their concerns to me and, as evidenced by the comments made in this debate, other Members’ Zimbabwean constituents have also approached them with issues. Trade union and civil society groups in Zimbabwe regularly contact me to express their utter helplessness and despair in reaction to numerous human rights abuses, many of which occurred under the Mugabe regime and are now happening again. I was recently contacted by the TUC, which is concerned that the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions’ secretary general, Japhet Moyo, has been arrested and charged with subverting a constitutionally elected Government, along with the ZCTU’s president Peter Mutasa. Both men have been remanded until 8 February, which highlights the fact that at the moment, anyone in Zimbabwe who raises their voice in opposition to the Government is targeted.