#GokweUpdate 1. Yellow citizens, from January 24th, we activated a deliberate political program with the dual task of introducing the new and campaigning for our by-elections elections candidates as is the norm in any democratic jurisdiction
2. To that end, after the Yellow Sunday rally in Harare, the Midlands Province, on behalf of your movement complied with legal requirements, and duly notified the authorities of our intention to hold a rally in Gokwe, on the 26th of February.
3. For the avoidance of doubt, that compliance was met with approval to proceed with our yellow gathering. We dutifully activated preparatory activities which include mobilizing supporters, deployment of our security, PA systems & other technical requirements
4. As has become clear to us, the misruling party jumped in to organise a counter rally in Kwekwe (where we move next for another citizens rally tomorrow). To this regard, the police, yesternight engaged our Gokwe rally converner demanding we cancel our rally.
5. The basis for the police order is that they have run out of "manpower" to attend our rally due to the rally being held by Mr Mnangagwa, over 100km away from Gokwe, in Mbizo Kwekwe, to be specific.
6. We however acknowledge that they are taking orders from the regime which is worried sick by how citizens are converging for change. There's desperation to use bare hands to derail the winds of change by the regime
7. Without any sense of irony, there is heavy presence of state security, in particular the police, at our rally venue in Gokwe. One wonders how they suddenly have heavy manpower to stop the rally, and none to offer "security".
8. Yellow citizens, we reiterate that we complied with all legal requirements to hold all our events. Secondly, we had no intention to address the police & fail to understand why their supposed scarcity in Gokwe, is justifiable reasons to halt our gathering.
9. To this end, we:
i. Continue engagements with the authorises to ensure the rally continues
ii. After exposing the police We have been given authority to proceed with the rally
iii. This was meant to deter Citizens from attending the rally. Let’s all come in numbers!!!
10. Lastly, we:
i. reiterate that we are a citizens' movements with rights enshrined in our constitution
ii. We won’t be bullied! We Implore citizens to not be pushed into any political confrontations due to this blatant provocation, as per their expectations. #YeboYellow
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8. The Citizen's President was met with thousand of displaced citizens, who self organized to greet their Leader. We turned the banned rally into a walkabout, engaging thousands of pocked citizens, at different stops.
9. Whereas we have never had any illusions, the resilience of the citizens of Gokwe fortified our resolve. Together, we confronted blatant lawlessness with restraint, & triumphed.
10. To the people of Gokwe, particularly thousands of millennial who were the last crowd we engaged, the Citizen's President was clear, "I will be back". Indeed, we will mobilise again & gather in our Cotton Town.
YellowThread: 1. Yellow citizens, we continue to be humbled by the expressed desire for change & transformation, to be ushered by your citizens' movement, as led by the Citizen's Change Champion, President @nelsonchamisa . The people of Gokwe are just as clear
2. As we updated earlier in the morning, the regime employed all sorts of tactics to ensure the #YellowGokwe rally didn't go ahead. Beyond police perjury in the courts, they went on to defy a High Court order to allow the Citizen's Rally to go on.
3. With heavy armory which almost resembled a war, the police, unprovoked & perhaps possessed & unhinged, displaced citizens with tear smokes, poisoned water & shamboks
The task on our shoulders as young people comrades is to increase the cost of dictatorship and continue to build a credible alternative.
The path to change has never been an easy one. It requires toughness, honesty and truth telling.
There is no struggle without its Morrison Nyati, but it is out of those experiences that we learn & unite together to launch a credible fight against an oppression
This fight requires unity, unity is key- it is to me the only buffer against perrenial intrusion & political decay.
Unity to me is that of progressive forces that form the Social contract. A National project without a consensus of progressive forces yields nothing but narrow individual goals. It benefits not the ordinary men and women who are & should be in the centre of the NDR.