Organisers of a summit for African first ladies set for the United Kingdom next week have bowed to pressure from Zimbabweans living in that country and allegedly cancelled their invitation to Auxillia Mnangagwa to participate at the indaba.
Mnangagwa was supposed to join other first ladies from the continent at the First Ladies African Impact & Resilience (Flair) Summit in London between June 16 and 18. Zimbabweans in the UK, who allege they were forced to flee home because of Zanu PF policies, petitioned the organisers demanding that they withdraw her invite, vowing to disrupt the event if she is allowed to attend.
A leading British parliamentarian for Brent East, Dawn Butler had to withdraw from the summit after Zimbabweans approached her office.
This forced the organisers into an urgent crisis meeting where the decision to withdraw Auxillia’s invitation was made, according to sources.
Presidential spokesperson George Charamba yesterday said it was a lie that Auxillia’s invitation was withdrawn.
Instead, Charamba said Auxillia has a busy schedule ahead and had to turn down the invite.
“You can be invited, but you can also turn down an invite,” Charamba said.
“Her plate is full; there are lots of programmes here.
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“Sorry, you wanted to build up some stories; you lost it; she has lots of programmes and here she will be with communities in Zimbabwe.”
This publication was made to understand that the presidency was made aware of the reasons behind the cancellation of Auxillia’s invite last week.
“The organisers have cancelled the first lady’s invitation fearing that angry Zimbabweans would disrupt the meeting,” a government source told The Standard.
It also emerged that the first lady may be heading for Australia for another event.
She already has the visa to Australia and was meant to travel at a different date after the Flair meeting, but is allegedly now planning to visit the western country on the same date the UK meeting will be in progress.
“The journey to Australia will be used to save her the embarrassment that her invitation to the UK indaba was cancelled by claiming that she did not attend because she had other engagements,” the source said.
However, the Australian trip is still faced with one huge challenge.
The first lady is said to have fired some members of her travelling party.
Only one was spared and her efforts to get visas for the new team is proving difficult.
“The Australian government is declining the new team some visas,” the source said.
Zimbabweans, who opposed her UK trip, cited the government’s human rights record and ongoing political repression in Zimbabwe.
Some activists also took exception to the fact that Mnangagwa is accused by political opponents of various transgressions that include mis-governance and presiding over a corrupt administration.
Zimbabweans said the first lady’s association with a government accused of human rights abuses, corruption and repression made her participation incompatible with the summit’s stated values.
The indaba is meant to celebrate women who lead with compassion, integrity, and courage, something critics said was the opposite of what Zanu PF was doing on the ground.
The forum was formed by the diaspora women leaders to collaborate with the women back home for the well-being of society.
