WHEN MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa revealed last week that his party would embark on a ‘spiritual renewal’ by opening an embassy in Israel if elected into power, he was not only interfering in the internal affairs of another country, but reading from his American handlers’ script.
The US’ politics has thrived on interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and Zimbabwe has not been spared from this hostile political operation.
Chamisa and his MDC have been doing the bidding for Uncle Sam in this quest.
Now, Zimbabwe is being dragged into Israeli/Palestinian conflict in order to please the US.
Israel has been at odds with its neighbour Palestine since 1948 and the world has remained neutral, urging the two nations to pursue the peace route.
The African Union (AU) has also taken a two-state solution, but the US has openly sided with Israel.
On May 14 2018, the US opened an embassy in Jerusalem, its first since May 14 1948 in a move that was widely condemned by the world.
At least 59 Palestinians were killed as the US opened the embassy in Jerusalem.
According to a February 20 2015 report by the BBC, the conflict between Israel and Palestine is over control of the Gaza Strip.
The report says:
“After the Second World War and the Holocaust in which six million Jewish people were killed, more Jewish people wanted their own country.
They were given a large part of Palestine, which they considered their traditional home but the Arabs who already lived there and in neighbouring countries felt that was unfair and didn’t accept the new country.
In 1948, the two sides went to war.
When it ended, Gaza was controlled by Egypt and another area, the West Bank, by Jordan.
They contained thousands of Palestinians who fled what was now the new Jewish home, Israel.”
The AU condemned the opening of the Jerusalem embassy by the US, saying it would result in an escalation of tensions between the two nations.
“The relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem can only further heighten tensions in the region and complicate the search for a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said AU Commission chairperson Mahamat Faki.
Enter the excitable Chamisa.
“We will renew ties with Israel, a Zimbabwean embassy will be established in Israel in line with the reconstruction agenda,” he said during the launch of his party’s manifesto in Harare last week.
Chamisa’s Israel utterances came at a time when members of election observer groups from the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democracy Institute (NDI), both American entities which have been involved in regime change activities in Zimbabwe claimed the country was not ready to hold elections.
The two groups had been on a fact-finding mission in Zimbabwe.
This is despite the widespread approbation that the country’s preparedness has received from various observer groups that have visited Zimbabwe in recent times.
The censure of Chamisa’s statements was swift.
The Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs of Zimbabwe (SCIAZ) immediately expressed its displeasure over Chamisa’s statements.
SCIAZ president Sheikh Ishmail Duwa said the statement by Chamisa was unfortunate.
“Mr (Douglas) Mwonzora says Zimbabwe is a Christian nation and has a lot to gain from Israel; for example, irrigation,” said Sheik Duwa.
“Zimbabwe is not a Christian country; that is why there is freedom of worship.
“The opposition is misdirecting itself because the issue in Palestine has nothing to do with politics, has nothing to do with Christianity — its humanitarian.
“Yes, they might be getting assistance from them, but money is not important than human life.”
Chairperson of the Palestine Solidarity of Zimbabwe, Jabulani Chari, thanked the Government for ensuring that freedom of worship is respected.
“Zimbabwe is a multi-religious country – we always pray for freedom of worship here,” he said.
The link between Chamisa’s statements and the IRI and NDI’s observations on the country’s preparedness on holding elections was not difficult to discern.
Herein lies the plan.
Chamisa was accosted to endorse the US’ illegality in Jerusalem with the Americans condemning the country’s elections even before their commencement.
The IRI and NDI delegation consists of former US congressman David Drier and former chairperson of the South African election commission, Brigalia Bam.
In their recommendations which sounded like the MDC’s electoral wish list and submitted to Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairwoman Justice Priscilla Chigumba, the two observer groups ‘demanded’ that the military should publicly commit to recognise a winning presidential candidate, despite their political affiliation.
They also called on ZEC to allow all political parties to observe the procurement, printing and storage of ballots.
“We, this week, have had a wide range of meetings and we hope that in the next 52 days, we will be able to see successful resolutions to the issues that we raised in our report that we have given you,” ex-US congressman Drier told the media.
On Tuesday last week, the MDC-Alliance freely marched in Harare, making similar demands.
The MDC Alliance had demanded an electronic copy of the provisional voters’ roll, an independent external audit of the voters’ roll, retirement of alleged security personnel within ZEC, access to BVR servers, removal of alleged military personnel in rural areas and queried the setting up of additional polling stations.
However, ZEC has since responded to the MDC-Alliance demands.
Said Justice Chigumba: “With regards to provision of the provisional voters’ roll, the demand by the Alliance is premature.
We provided a read-only copy of the printed voters’ roll because it is subject to correction.
It is only rational that in the circumstances, for the commission to be allowed to complete its process and produce a new voters’ roll which stakeholders would have every right to raise questions and objections on.
The Alliance is also free to undertake an independent external audit on its own or in collaboration with other stakeholders and share recommendations with the commission.”
She went on: “One of the issues raised in the petition had to do with the procurement and movement of the ballot paper and I would like to reinforce that such is the exclusive right of the commission in terms of Section 239 of the Constitution.
This is an administrative matter for which the commission is not subject to the direction or control of any person. However, as a consensus-building gesture in order to foster transparency, the commission has resolved to allow political parties and other stakeholders to observe the printing of the ballots when the time comes.”
The IRI and NDI’s role in Zimbabwe are a matter of public record.
In 2016, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) profiled American regime change institutions and their global reach and influence.
According to CFR, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) was established in 1983 under the Ronald Reagan administration and funded by Congress.
It is governed by an independent, bipartisan board of directors and has an annual war chest of about US$100 million, 55 percent of which funds are distributed equally in the form of grants to its four core institutes, and the rest of the budget is distributed among several other democracy-promoting organisations, as well as smaller indigenous groups across the globe.
The NDI is chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and is funded by the NED, USAID, the State Department, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as well as foreign governments’ aid agencies and private sector contributions.
“NDI’s activities take place before and after elections, and include education campaigns, debate organisation and encouragement of women’s participation in the political process,” says CFR.
The IRI is the Republican counterpart to NDI and its similar budget is the NED, USAID and the State Department, among others.
IRI is said to be active in approximately 60 countries.
There are also such organisations as Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), American Centre for International Labour Solidarity (Solidarity Center), an affiliate of American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) which primarily is concerned with building and supporting democratic trade unions, educating workers about collective bargaining, accountability and health safety.
All the above organisations are created to destabilise foreign Governments on behalf of their American leadership.
In the case of IRI and NDI, the idea is to dismiss Zimbabwe elections even before they have taken place.
Chamisa is a mere pawn in the bigger plan and he might as well have had his last supper.