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Friday 15 June 2007, Media Release

A BIG SPIRITUAL BUILD

Three months ago the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council, along with a number of other Aboriginal activists and organizations, sent a flurry of letters to the Australian and South African Governments to protest the ongoing brutal repression of its political opponents by the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe.
NSWALC also urged Cricket Australia to cancel a proposed tour of Zimbabwe in September this year to ensure it could not be used as a propaganda tool by Mugabe and his thugs.

The letters were designed to highlight the suppression of political activity by Zimbabwean security forces under the draconian Public Order and Security Act and the trashing of the Zimbabwean economy by the 27-year old Mugabe regime.

NSWALC was particularly appalled at a brutal attack in a Harare police station on 64-year old grandmother Sekai Holland, one of the leaders of Zimbabwe’s opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

Ms Holland and fellow activist Grace Kwinjeh were detained when they went to the police station to search for other activists protesting against bans by the Mugabe regime on political rallies.

She was repeatedly hit in the face and beaten with a variety of weapons, including clubs and batons. She sustained a broken arm, three broken ribs and a broken leg but was denied medical attention for two days before being transferred, under police custody, to hospital.

Ms Holland was initially detained as she boarded a flight to Johannesburg to seek expert medical assistance but was eventually allowed to fly out after the intervention of Australian Embassy officials.

She arrived in Australia a few weeks ago to continue her medical treatment and trauma counseling at Sydney Private Hospital in Ashfield.

Last week Sekai Holland walked into a full meeting of the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council in the fifth floor boardroom at NSWALC’s Paramatta Headquarters.

She used a cane, was clearly still in considerable pain, but her pride, defiance and eloquence moved many of the Councillors and staff close to tears as she talked of the ongoing struggle to bring democracy to Zimbabwe and the need for Indigenous people around the world to continue to work together to eliminate tyranny and the loss of basic human rights.

Sekai said events in Zimbabwe and around the world demonstrated a clear need for Indigenous peoples’ to work towards a formula for minimum standards of democracy.

She told a harrowing story of being tortured with other supporters for more than ine hours in the police station and more than 60 hours in prison. 600 people had been tortured over three days as a result of protests against Mugabe’s rule.

Sekai thanked the Council for NSWALC’s intervention which had helped shine the spotlight on the brutal repression. She urged Councillors to “build on the foundations of those letters.”

“I cried when I saw the letters because they made me realise we had created

such great bonds with supporters around the world,” she said.

She said it was a “big spiritual build,” to meet with NSWALC’s leaders and to see the gains which had been made through land rights in NSW.

Sekai Holland lived in Australia for two decades in Australia until 1981. She was, and still is a great supporter of the Aboriginal land rights movement and the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.

During her emotional meeting with Council Sekai talked of arriving in Australia in 1964.

“What shocked me was that in the first two years I was here I met no black people.”

Luckily she was billeted with a Melbourne couple, Ian and Barbara Spalding, and their family. Ian Spalding was a frequent visitor to Aboriginal communities in Central Australia.

During the late Sixties she was taken to Redfern where she met activists, including Naomi Mayers, Sol Bellear, Dulcie Flowers and Faith Bandler.

“Once we made that connection we never lost it,” she explained.

Sol, who is now employed as NSWALC’s Community Relations advisor, escorted Ms Holland to the meeting with Council.

He said she was thrilled to see the gains which had been made in New South Wales and the recent support she and her family and supporters had received. NSWALC would be discussing ongoing support for the democratic movement in Zimbabwe with Ms Holland as part of its international advocacy work.