WHEN the EU imposed illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe on February 18 2002, they created the lie that the embargo was ‘targeted’ at a few Zimbabweans who were accused of ‘violating’ human rights.
That was a subtle way by the Western bloc to vent out their anger over the highly successful Land Reform and Resettlement Programme of 2000 that benefitted over 400 000 black households.
Previously, about 4 000 white farmers owned the country’s prime land.
While the sanctions would go on to bring the country’s economy to its knees, the reality which is playing out right before those with discerning eyes is that the embargo had a hidden motive to divide Zimbabweans along political and tribal lines.
Of course, the EU and their allies, including the US, have been clear on their intentions – ‘sanctions will only be lifted if and when the opposition wins elections in the country’.
This means the West wants to establish neo-colonial rule.
In order to achieve that, as unravelled by The Patriot, the EU has established thousands of NGOs, most of which are stationed in Matabeleland where their mandate is to preach the message of hate to the people of that province.
The instructions are strict and clear.
The NGOs pretend to be pushing for the development of the province while at the same time claiming that it is marginalised, even when Government has embarked on many projects, such as the Gwayi-Shangani Dam, Hwange Thermal expansion as well as the upgrading of the Joshua Nkomo and Victoria Falls airports, among others; that, of course, is conveniently shoved aside in favour of divisive political narratives.
So, who are the players in this proposed neo-colonial rule?
With the MDC in its numerous formations and factions heading towards extinction, a supposed ‘new’ political outfit called Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), led by Nelson Chamisa, has been tasked to forge ahead with that fallacious plan.
And Chamisa’s party has wasted little time in executing the assignment.
Over the weekend, we were treated to the usual comical abductions stories when a Twitter post by one Malvern Dengu, a member of the CCC and a self-proclaimed champion of human rights as well as a representative of a shadowy outfit calling itself Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe, claimed that the party’s secretary-general Charlton Hwende had been ‘abducted’ by ‘suspected’ State security agents.
Remember Dengu was among opposition activists who wrote a petition to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on October 21 2021 at 2pm ahead of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s trip to the COP26 Summit in Glasgow in November last year.
The recent Twitter post by Dengu read: “BREAKING NEWS @hwendec Citizens Coalition for Change Secretary General Charlton Hwende has been abducted by 3 suspected state security agents with AK47 rifles at Makoni shopping Center where he was conducting a voter registration mobilization campaign.”
The message was clearly intended for CCC’s British handlers and the recently held 35th AU Summit which took place in Addis Ababa over the weekend.
Crucially, it was meant for the EU which will review its sanctions on Zimbabwe on February 18 2022.
And as has become the norm, Zimbabweans should not expect a shift in policy and position from the EU.
A leopard never changes its spots.
While the abductions narrative was being poorly executed as has been the case with other abduction stories, Hwende, realising the futility of the exercise, shamefully refuted Dengu’s claims on Twitter hours later.
“My daughter has just informed me that there is a message circulating alleging that I have been abducted. This is false I have been freely moving around constituencies in Harare monitoring voter registration. The focus is on getting 6 million votes for Nelson Chamisa,” said Hwende.
However, only the naïve will buy into Hwende’s claims that he was ‘informed’ by his daughter that he had been allegedly abducted.
And here is why.
Time and again, especially when there are major local or international events, Zimbabwe is subjected to false narratives of abductions of members of the opposition in order to attract sympathy and attention.
It is false, and embarrassing for a person of Hwende’s standing to come to the public with lies that he was not aware that he had been abducted, only to be informed by his daughter.
The gaps in his story are exposed by the number of hours that he took to respond to the ‘fake’ distress call.
He was very much in the loop of what was happening and waited to allow the false alarm to be spread across the country and the world at large and then pretended to have been busy mobilising support for his embattled leader Chamisa.
We will reveal more on this.
What we know is that the fake abduction message was created to divert attention from the ruckus that was taking place in Bulawayo, where CCC demonstrated against imposition of candidates in the forthcoming March 26 2022 by-elections.
And Hwende has been implicated in the scam.
As The Patriot revealed last week, all was not well in the CCC with Chamisa’s opponents, like Welshman Ncube, burning midnight oil to outdo their beleaguered leader who has been typically huffing and puffing since the ‘formation’ of his ‘new’ party a fortnight ago.
Ncube has also been implicated in the Bulawayo chaos.
“The Nelson Chamisa-led Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) is already embroiled in discord ahead of the upcoming by-elections with party supporters on Friday staging a demonstration in Bulawayo’s Ward 26, accusing the party leadership of imposing candidates,” reads in part a February 6 2022 article by The Sunday News.
“During the nomination court last month the party fielded double candidates in Ward 9 and 26, a move that exposed factional fights as all the candidates claimed they had been given the green light by their leadership to contest.
One of the candidates for Ward 9, Mr Bekithemba Nyathi later withdrew his candidature leaving the standoff only in Ward 26 which covers Emganwini high-density suburb.
It is the Ward 26 impasse that has exposed the party’s deep-rooted fights, with accusations of candidate imposition being peddled around by both the warring candidates — Alderman Norman Hlabani and Mr Mpumelelo Moyo.
Mr Moyo’s supporters staged a mini-demonstration in the ward on Friday after the party’s secretary-general, Mr Charlton Hwende purported that Mr Moyo had withdrawn his candidature in support of Ald Hlabani.”
Left with egg on the face, Hwende went on to connive with Dengu to post the false abduction tweet.
“After a fruitful and affable meeting with candidates, I would like to thank Mpumelelo Moyo for exercising maturity and for putting the citizens and the party first by withdrawing his candidacy for Ward 26. We now have one candidate, Norman Hlabani,” wrote Hwende on his Twitter account.
But back to the EU which is set to review its sanctions on Zimbabwe on February 18 2022.
We will not wait with bated breath for a change of position, but we are guaranteed of more drama from the CCC whose false start has rattled the party’s leadership as we are being told by sources within the outfit.