Zimbabwe is facing a general election in 2018 and this includes election for President. Current president, Robert Mugabe, will be 94 and even frailer, yet his party, ZANU PF, has agreed for him to stand again for president. Robert Mugabe is the only leader that Zimbabwe has ever known since 1980’s independence from Britain.
From 1980, Zimbabwe’s elections have all been characterised by violence, abductions, torture, political assassinations - persecution of all perceived opponents of the Mugabe’s dictatorship. Through violence, voters are systematically manipulated into voting for Mugabe and his ZANU PF party. As a result, Zimbabwe today suffers from a political, economic and social crisis which, according to political analysts, can only be resolved through a free and fair election under international supervision.
The Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) International strongly believes that democratic choices should never be about coercion, dictatorship or manipulation but the people’s issues and aspirations in an environment of fair play, transparency, and accountability underpinned by the rule of law, equality of opportunity, justice and peace.
ROHR International and 18 other civil society organisations in Zimbabwe that include Heal Zimbabwe, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, Amnesty International concerned with the issue of peace signed a Memorandum of Understanding in December 2016 to collaborate in preventing the outbreak of violence, peace-building, and its sustenance under the Zimbabwe Peace Actors Platform (ZimPAP) initiative.
Human rights activist, Sipho has taken up the challenge to fundraise for the cause of peace. Sipho will cycle to 8 cities in Great Britain including Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham, Slough, Reading, Southampton, London and Oxford over 7 days.