THE US and its Western allies have never wanted to see governments in Southern Africa run by former liberation movements and are prepared to assist in seeing them tossed out of power by any means fair or foul.

This is a region overflowing with natural resources which the West has always found delicious to exploit.

But the common denominator among former liberation movements is their desire to take full control of resources they possess and exploit them to the full benefit of their indigenes. 

And one such vital resource is land.

When ZANU PF introduced land reform which sought equitable redistribution of land, all hell broke loose.

Led by the US, the West imposed unilateral illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe.

The US’  Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) was meant to make the Zimbabwean economy ‘scream.’

This would, in turn, make the people suffer and force them to overthrow the Government, argued then Secretary of State Chester Crocker.

Through international economic strangulation, there was no way the ZANU PF would survive, so the US thought.

Because of ZDERA, Zimbabwe cannot access multinational financing institutions like the IMF and World Bank.

Thus, debt relief and any financial assistance are out of the question. 

Industries were closed, forcing thousands to lose their jobs and seek employment out of the country.

 Our detractors  take advantage of this, claiming that people were leaving the country because of bad governance. 

With majority rule, improved education opportunities  had seen Zimbabweans employable outside our borders, when their firms were closed.

Sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are coercive and meant to bring the Government down.

But despite the concerted effort by the US and its allies, ZANU PF has been winning successive general elections — and convincingly too.

 Calling for the end of sanctions alone is not enough, President Mnangagwa has argued.

We have the resources and the Second Republic has shown how the lives of people can be uplifted by the resources we have.

The philosophy of  the Second Republic that: Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/Ilizwe liyakwa ngavanikazi has proved an effective sanctions buster.

The developmental projects dotted across all provinces as a result this mantra are there for all to see.

What more with the thrust towards modernisation and industrialisation including emphasis on beneficiation and value addition, soon sanctions will have been tamed.

As pointed out earlier, we are not the only target for regime change in this region.

SA is not safe either.

As we can see, Uncle Sam is already trying to find a way of how best to destabilise our southern neighbour.

The US Ambassador to SA, Reuben Brigety, earlier this year, without any proof,  accused Pretoria of providing weapons and ammunition to Russia for its war in Ukraine — a very serious crime by US standards.

This, he announced at a news conference knowing fully well that this would enrage America.

No doubt this would have given the US justification to impose unilateral sanctions on SA or any other coercive measures. 

After all, it is a country being run by a former liberation movement.

It turned out that the Ambassador’s allegations  could not be verified. 

We become very suspicious when black opposition parties, like the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), suddenly wake up one morning to say they are prepared to work  with racist parties like the DA to oust the ANC.

The DA was formed in 2000 as a merger of mostly white parties, including a clone of the notorious apartheid National Party (NP).

EFF’s Julius Malema and DA’s John Steenhuisen joining hands to fight ANC!

This is difficult to believe, with Malema’s public utterances, especially those related to land and white domination over means of production which had led us into believing he was one of us.

Just like our own CCC, across the border in Mozambique we have Renamo, which has been made to believe, probably by regime change kingpins, that it should not lose an election to FRELIMO, a former liberation movement.

It has called for protests after being trounced by FRELIMO in local government elections.

The EFF might soon be another black opposition from Southern Africa joining the bandwagon.