IT seems a long time now since the term ‘regime change agenda’ was last talked about, but this is a reality that has been with us all this while and has been stubbornly refusing to vacate Zimbabwe’s political space like some evil spirit from the ancient world.
But when newly-appointed Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Walter Mzembi met with accredited heads of diplomatic missions in Harare last week, bitter memories of past intrusive actions by Western nations were awakened.
The issue under discussion was that of the country’s forthcoming elections which have, in the past, been marred by violence and brazen interference by the West which sought, but dismally failed, to install its preferred leader in Zimbabwe.
Dr Mzembi, who was making his debut meeting with the diplomats, was duly at hand to read the riot act to possible diplomatic malcontents by stating the country’s all-too-familiar stance when it comes to matters of sovereignty.
So, on Wednesday last week, we were once again back to where we have been since 2000.
That issue of Western interference can never be ignored.
It can not be wished away.
“I want to inform you that the election season beckons and I urge you not to become referees and players in the same,” said Dr Mzembi.
“Instead, I exhort you to remain steadfast in your dignified roles of impartial observers as has been already pronounced by His Excellency the President, Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe.
“As with previous elections, the Zimbabwe Government has always guaranteed a peaceful environment, before, during and after elections.
“Its zero tolerance to violence policy as we approach 2018 elections is a matter of public record.”
This timely reminder is what the doctor ordered, but history has taught us not everyone forewarned pays heed.
The Western countries have been on the ground since the July 31 2013 trouncing of the now almost moribund MDC-T by ZANU PF.
And this requires Dr Mzembi, and all relevant authorities, to be always on the lookout and to constantly hammer home the message that interference by outsiders would not be tolerated.
Let us go back to March 2017.
The EU announced it had unveiled a 5 million Euros package which, to all intents and purposes, was aimed at funding regime change agenda outfits.
In its loaded and revealing statement, the EU said: “The EU in Zimbabwe has strengthened its support to civil society with a fresh call for proposals to promote democratic participation, good governance and accountability as well as dialogue among different stakeholders in the country.
In total, the EU provides 5 million Euros for proposals that address one of the two specific objectives.”
In June 2017, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Carol O’Connel visited the country.
She was visibly disappointed by the slow pace of infiltration and publicly made her country’s anger known when she demanded a raft of political and economic reforms ahead of next year’s general elections.
“The relationship with the Zimbabwean Government is part of the reason I am here,” she said.
“We are not trying to vet specific individuals from Zimbabwe, but we are looking to the Zimbabwean leadership and Government to make certain political and economic changes so that we can work robustly.”
Echoes of 2008 ring loud in this debacle.
But while Zimbabwe survived 2008 and 2013, signs have always been there that the West has not let go of Harare.
On July 2 2015, head of the EU delegation to Zimbabwe Phillipe Van Damme, British Ambassador to Zimbabwe Catriona Laing and Dutch Ambassador Gera Sneller participated in a supposedly ‘high’ level conference on Europe-Zimbabwe ‘relations’ in Brussels, Belgium.
The conference was meant to put the so-called Mugabe regime under intense pressure to ‘open up space to NGOs’ and at ‘worst’ prop up the fortunes of the opposition, including the confused and confusing ‘People First’ movement.
We further go back in history.
In February 2002, MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai acknowledged that his party was financed by European governments and corporations, which funnelled money through British political consultants, BSMG.
An article in March 2008 by Stephen Gowans reveals the intricacy of the funding network: “It would be truly naïve to believe, for example, that the International Centre for Non-violent Conflict and Freedom House, both headed by Peter Ackerman, member of the US ruling class Council on Foreign Relations, a New York investment banker and former right hand man to Michael Milken of the ‘junk bond’ fame, is lavishing money and training on civil society groups in Zimbabwe out of humanitarian concern.”
Michael Barker, Global Research, April 16 2008, sought to explain the reasons by observing that: “Zimbabwe’s crime in the eyes of Washington is that it jettisoned the ruinous structural adjustment programme several years ago, rejected the neo-liberal economic model and redistributed land on a more equitable basis.”
Barker went further to argue: “It is not lack of democracy in Zimbabwe that worries Western elites.
It is the fact that democracy has produced a Government that those in the halls of power in Washington and London wish to remove.
What the West wants is to overturn democracy in Zimbabwe and impose a Government of its own.”
We should never tolerate interference into our polls by outsiders with sinister agendas.
Let those with ears listen.