HomeTop NewsHow the ‘shutdown’ was planned

How the ‘shutdown’ was planned

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By Nyasha Chabururuka

THE violence unleashed by terrorists masquerading as protestors, who left a trail of destruction across the country did not come as a surprise.

Sponsors of the violence had been frantically working behind the scenes to cause civil unrest in the country.

But as the dust settles, chilling details of how these so-called ‘protests’ were sponsored by known politicians are beginning to emerge and their actions are going to haunt them in the next few weeks.

Property worth millions of dollars was not spared by the marauding activists, with some of the property belonging to Government while the majority is the sweat of private citizens who have braved the harsh economic environment and managed to save for and acquire those prized assets.

The reason for the terror acts: Forcing Government to the negotiation table in order to create what they call a National Transitional Authority (NTA).

The opposition has been pursuing that route so that they smuggle themselves into governance.

The seemingly sporadic wave of riots, organised on social media, were in actual fact well-co-ordinated attacks by malcontents bent on causing anarchy, and were curiously called for by the notorious Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), an organisation that gave birth to Zimbabwe’s main opposition political party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

While the architects of violence have anchored their argument on the premise that the recent fuel hikes were the cause of the insurgency, discerning individuals have dismissed this as pub talk that would only appeal to those with a limited cosmology.

The fuel hike protest was used as a spark in an already well-knit plot that has long been in the offing. 

In August last year, The Patriot intercepted information that the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU), an organisation that works as an extension of the opposition, had planned to unleash 11 days of terror in Harare’s high density suburbs.

The article revealed that the terror campaign would be co-ordinated on WhatsApp groups, and the strategy involved taking the fight to Harare’s high density suburbs as the central business district (CBD) demos could not guarantee high outcomes anymore.

“The covert operation is to call for ‘peaceful demonstrations’, motivate the crowds to join so that they push a ‘petition’ to have Nelson Chamisa recognised as the one who won the elections.

Once they have the numbers they then divert from the peaceful demonstrations and instead cause mayhem, malicious damage to property and arson.

The ultimate goal is to have Zimbabwe on the international community’s agenda, and have the election results nullified,” reported The Patriot last year.

The story also revealed that Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiCZ) had backed the plan to cause anarchy in the country in the hope that violent disturbances would prop up their relevance for funding.

Drawing from the same template, the latest wave of violent ‘protests’ that were initially called stay aways have since morphed into their real agenda — platforms to effect regime change, proving to be acts of sabotage organised to taint Government at a time when President Emmerson Mnangagwa has embarked on a five-nation tour drumming up support for the country’s ailing economy. 

The youths incited to cause the disturbances were advised to provoke security agents, get beaten and arrested in order to feign abuse of human rights to invite the wrath of the international community. 

This plan to topple the ZANU PF Government is not new, as the past two decades have seen attempts to foment civil strife taking centre stage.

In 2011 for example, Manuel Bagorro, the founder and then artistic director of the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA), accompanied Tafadzwa Simba, Joanna Powell, Nixon Nyikadzino, Talent Chademana and Kerry Appel to study the effective use of social media to effect an Arab Spring-style regime change.

The programme was sponsored by the US Government’s Office for Transitional Initiatives (OTI) through Casals and Associates, one for the agents through which USAID funds regime change projects, under grant number CAZ214 and was funded to the tune of US$40 524.

This was the first recorded step of an organised effort to use social media to undermine the authority of the Government, and this has since intensified. 

The Patriot last week reported that Zimbabwe is still “…besieged by non-governmental organisations (NGO)’s regime change antics despite intercepting their illegal machinations time and again as well as laying bare their sinister plot.”

The article traced how the country’s largest trade union had morphed into a political party, forming the MDC on September 11 1999 and eventually venturing into full-fledged politics, in the process capturing the urban electorate by pretending to represent workers’ interests while pursuing their selfish political agendas. 

“…In 1997, for instance, the ZCTU planned to bring the Government to its knees by spearheading and organising a record 231 national and industrial strikers, most of which were supported by civic organisations.

This perhaps explains the current opposition’s obsession with strikes and boycotts.

As the years have gone by, the ZCTU has openly maintained close relations with the opposition.

However, with the MDC having failed to unseat the ZANU PF Government through the ballot for two decades in succession, regime change proponents have not given up. 

It seems there are a few cards up their sleeve which they are yet to play.”  

In order to hoodwink the international media and locals that these terrorist activities were politically motivated, the organisers ordered their ‘protestors’ to avoid wearing their party regalia and to not chant any slogans so that they would plead plausible deniability.

There are a number of questions that organisers of the mayhem witnessed in the country over the past few days need to answer.

If the ‘protestors’ did not belong to a particular political party, then why ask them to not identify themselves?

Why is it, though, that when the rioters lit tyres at barricades they had set up countrywide, they all seemed to exclaim: ‘Tozozvidira jecha manje, izvezvi zvadhakwa’?  

Is it not Nelson Chamisa who promised the electorate that if he did not come out tops in the July 31 2018 elections, who would ‘dira jecha keke renyu’?

The bellicose opposition leader also claimed that no development would happen in the country without his involvement.

Haivhiyiwi,” exclaimed Chamisa.

Do you think that by engaging in violence, whatever grievances you have will be solved? 

Since when has violence ever been a solution? 

Who do you think is going to pay for the trail of destruction you have orchestrated?

You say you are protesting against the rise of the price of petrol, so why are you burning private cars belonging to innocent citizens who are equally affected by the same policy?

The majority of Zimbabweans will never condone such acts and it is high time that Government took stern action against the saboteurs.  

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