LONDON – First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa was this week forced to cancel her scheduled appearance at a high-profile international summit in London after Zimbabwean activists in the United Kingdom mobilized to protest her visit.
Mnangagwa had been billed to speak at the First Ladies of Africa Impact and Resilience (FLAIR) Summit, held from 17 to 18 June at the Royal Leonardo Hotel near Tower Bridge. However, her name was quietly removed from the programme following growing pressure from UK-based Zimbabweans threatening to confront her over allegations of corruption, abuse of public resources, and complicity in human rights violations back home.
Sources close to the event say organisers were left with no choice but to deplatform the First Lady after Labour MP Dawn Butler withdrew from the summit in protest over her inclusion. Butler’s exit reportedly triggered an emergency meeting among the organisers, leading to Auxillia’s abrupt removal from the speaker lineup.
The protests were the culmination of weeks of mobilisation by civil society organisations, human rights defenders, and members of the Zimbabwean diaspora in the UK. Campaigners had petitioned both the British government and summit organisers to bar her from attending, accusing her of using charitable foundations and state-sanctioned philanthropy to whitewash the Mnangagwa administration’s poor human rights record.
In the face of the mounting backlash, the First Lady quietly changed course. Rather than flying to London, she travelled to Dubai, where she attended the Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative Summit from 18 to 19 June.
While the FLAIR Summit took place in London, Auxillia posted on her official X (formerly Twitter) account:
“Today, I met with Mr. Prateek Suri, an Indian billionaire and CEO of Maser Group, on the sidelines of the 7th Merck Foundation First Ladies Initiative Summit 2025 underway in Dubai. We discussed several investment opportunities in Zimbabwe in education, sports, mining and infrastructure development. Mr. Suri expressed interest in the construction of a university in Harare with student accommodation. I invited him to Zimbabwe to further deliberate with relevant Cabinet Ministers. Zimbabwe is open for business.”
Presidential spokesperson George Charamba attempted to downplay the incident, claiming that the First Lady had opted out of the London summit due to “scheduling conflicts.”
“You can be invited, but you can also turn down an invite,” Charamba told state media, insisting Auxillia had a “full plate” of engagements elsewhere.
Despite the official spin, Zimbabweans in the UK hailed the First Lady’s absence as a diplomatic victory and a clear message that the diaspora would hold public officials accountable beyond the country’s borders. Activists vowed to maintain pressure on senior Zimbabwean figures attempting to launder their reputations on international platforms without addressing domestic repression, corruption, and poor governance.