Subject: URGENT: Visit of Zimbabwe Minister of Youth Tino Machakaire to Birmingham, 15–16 May 2026 — Formal Notification and Request for Response
For the urgent attention of Lord Collins of Highbury
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, FCDO
Minister for Africa
Dear Lord Collins,
We write on behalf of the Zimbabwean Independent Diaspora — MyRight2Vote, ZAPU, ZHRO, CCC Diaspora, ROHR and Women of Zimbabwe Arise — to formally notify the FCDO of the presence in the United Kingdom this week of Tinoda Machakaire, Zimbabwe's Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training, who is attending the Zimbabwe Achievers Awards gala in Birmingham on 15–16 May 2026.
We wish to draw three matters to the Minister's urgent attention.
FIRST — THE POLITICAL TIMING OF THIS VISIT
Minister Machakaire's attendance in Birmingham is not incidental. It coincides precisely with: (a) the imminent passage of Constitutional Amendment Bill 3 (CAB3), which proposes to extend presidential and parliamentary terms from five to seven years, replace direct popular election of the President with election by a joint sitting of parliament, and retrospectively extend President Mnangagwa's current term — changes widely described as unconstitutional by independent legal commentators, including Senator David Coltart; and (b) the delivery of petitions by ZHRO and allied diaspora organisations to 10 Downing Street on 15 May 2026, addressing CAB3, transnational repression, and the Gukurahundi genocide.
The visit must be understood not as a cultural engagement but as a deliberate exercise in image management, designed to present the Mnangagwa government as internationally legitimate and diaspora-endorsed at the precise moment it is consolidating power through means the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission itself has described as a 'highly managed' process with 'limited space for dissenting voices.'
SECOND — THE MINISTER'S OWN CONDUCT
We place on record, as matters of documented public fact, the following:
- In July 2021, while serving as Deputy Minister of Youth, Minister Machakaire spent US$770,000 on a Rolls Royce Phantom — a single vehicle purchase in a country where the majority of citizens cannot afford basic medicines and public hospitals lack essential equipment. When questioned publicly, he stated: 'I don't know anything about this story.'
- In 2025–2026, opposition lawyer Fadzayi Mahere publicly questioned Minister Machakaire about a purported US$8 million tax evasion case linked to vehicle importation. Rather than answer those questions, he pursued a defamation action in Zimbabwe's captured judiciary. In March 2026, the High Court ordered the attachment of Ms Mahere's property to recover US$33,395 in damages. A prominent opposition lawyer was financially ruined for asking accountability questions. This is lawfare.
The UK's policy of engagement with the Mnangagwa government must be tested against these documented facts.
THIRD — THE PRECEDENT OF QUIET DIPLOMACY
We ask formally and on the record: what has that engagement achieved? CAB3 is passing. Journalists remain in prison. The Varakashi digital militia is being equipped with new tools to target UK-based diaspora activists — including named individuals who are simultaneously being refused Home Office protection on the basis of insufficient evidence of specific risk.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights published its report on transnational repression in July 2025. The Government responded in October 2025. Seven months later, the situation has deteriorated further.
We attach our full joint statement and respectfully request:
1. A formal acknowledgement of this notification;
2. Confirmation of whether Minister Machakaire's visit was conducted with FCDO awareness and under any form of engagement;
3. A meeting with your officials at the earliest opportunity to discuss the matters raised.
We are, as always, available at short notice.
Yours faithfully,
John Burke
Chairperson, Zimbabwe Human Rights Organisation (ZHRO)
On behalf of the Zimbabwean Independent Diaspora
Email:
Web: www.zhro.org.uk
Twitter/X: @ZHRO_Zimbabwe
Copied to:
• The Joint Committee on Human Rights
• Baroness Kate Hoey
• Lord Jonny Oates
• The MP for the Birmingham constituency in which the ZAA event takes place