IN our May 20 2022 edition, we warned of a destructive collusion between the opposition CCC, business and some Western Embassies in Harare to paralyse the currency in order to galvanise the masses to turn against the Government.
The sabotage activities which were part of a broader plan to halt holding of elections have escalated in a bid to push for another Government of National Unity.
The CCC, like the MDCs of old, knows that it can never, and will never, win an election in the country.
The chaos that has characterised the market following President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s proclamation of the election date late last month is an escalation of Western countries’ now overt plan to swing votes in favour of CCC through their long drawn, but failing, destabilisation concept called ‘Manufactured-Poverty’.
This has been precipitated by the grudging admission by Western countries that their horse, CCC, stands no chance against the ZANU PF juggernaut in the August 23 2023 general elections, driving them to embark on a grossly overt, provocative campaign for the opposition.
As such, Western countries, led by the bellicose US, have been using social media, issuing reckless statements and conniving with the business community on behalf of their CCC which has failed to find answers to ZANU PF’s rollercoaster economic drive since November 2017.
It goes without saying that, generally, opposition parties in the country are hopelessly out of depth, and woefully disconnected from sound ideas that can take the country forward.
That unsurprising and embarrassing failure by the opposition to present to the alert electorate viable alternatives to ZANU PF’s stellar economic performance over the last five years has unveiled what the West and CCC thought would be hidden from the eyes of the electorate — that their economic sabotage ‘strategy’ is still very much alive and kicking.
And that the masses are the primary target of those dirty tactics.
The Western strategy, from the beginning, has always been ‘tightening the screws to make the economy scream’ and have people ‘revolting’.
While the new dispensation has thrived, ticking all economic boxes and defying the Western-sponsored illegal economic sanctions, the opposition and major beneficiaries of the embargo, firmly in control of local authorities, has alienated itself from the voters through their lacklustre performances on service delivery.
They have also faltered where it matters most — presenting alternatives to ZANU PF’s new look candidate list ahead of the August 23 2023 general elections hence the renewed vigour by Western Embassies to openly aid their crumbling cause.
Subsequently, Western countries have had to revert to their old and tired playbook and seek, once again, to make the economy scream to get the CCC into the post-election Government.
There have been several pre and post-election scenario meetings since the beginning of the year between known business people in the country, the opposition and Western Embassies to put in motion plans to lay siege on the currency and economy so that ZANU PF does not win by two thirds majority to create another GNU.
Their plan also involves arm twisting the Government to adopt the US dollar, a scenario which will give credence to the opposition claims that the local currency is now moribund, a scenario which they naively believe will be part of the post-election Government.
This, however, is the same business community that has rightfully pointed out in the past that a dollarised economy makes the cost of business high and the country an unattractive investment destination.
That too, as has been the case with several other economic sabotage attempts since the turn of the millennium, will spectacularly fail.
This is why former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker’s utterances at 106th Congress House Hearings the Americans haughtily referred to as ‘Zimbabwe: Democracy on the Line’ on June 13 2000 are important when grasping the ongoing madness on the Zimbabwean market.
Said Crocker:
“To separate the Zimbabwean people from ZANU PF we have to make their economy scream, and I hope you, Senators, have the stomach for what you have to do.”
This is the kind of ‘democracy’ that the opposition says it intends to ‘deliver’ to the people of Zimbabwe — democracy that thrives on deliberate engineering of the suffering of the majority to force them to vote for enemies of the State.
But now the time to cull the madness has come.
There will be tears for those who are engaging in these illicit activities in the coming weeks, months and years.
A business that colludes with known enemies of the State can never be allowed to serve the masses!
And President Mnangagwa’s warning to these bad apples in Masvingo on Friday last week must be taken to heart by all and sundry.
“We in ZANU PF are building this country while some opposition parties supported by their Western handlers are causing suffering to our people through sanctions and the attack on our currency,” he said.
“We are aware of those bent on causing havoc in the country by attacking our currency, they will never succeed, and they want our minerals. They want citizens to get frustrated and rise against the ZANU PF Party. They are fighting to take advantage of manufactured poverty.
These detractors and their surrogates have never had the people of Zimbabwe at heart, our mass revolutionary Party is the only Party with a vision for the future.
Those who are going to be found committing crimes against measures we have put in place shall have their trading licences withdrawn because these people are doing these heinous acts to cause the suffering of our people. I now warn them three times.”
As the country gradually heads towards elections, there should be no room for saboteurs targetting the economy as is the case now.