IT was supposed to shake the country, to bring it to its knees and, with it, drag Zimbabwe to the global spotlight as a pariah state; a nation in desperate and dire need of intervention from the ‘headmasters’ and ‘prefects’ of the world — the West.

A script, so familiar both in make and colour had been presented before the West’s new regime change poster boy Nelson Chamisa.

Gleefully marvelling at that toxic script, there sat the Americans, the EU on the other side; pens sharpened, phones in hands, cameras and microphones in tow, all waiting for the big announcement which never came.

As the sun settled into its abode, Harare’s usual Friday vibe was slowly returning to its peace-loving residents.

Gone was the noisy bunch that had been hired to destabilise and destroy the beauty that Harare is.

Faded too were the hollow sounds that had been made in the morning, sounds dissipating into the four winds of a world that had understandably ignored the child’s play that had been on exhibition. 

Harare itself had refused to be the sombre and solitary figure that was supposed to be lingering and lumbering in the heart of the land of peace that the MDC Alliance had tried to turn into a war zone.

All that was left, as life began to worm its way again into Harare, was litter that consisted mainly of empty plastic bottles of the illicit brew commonly referred to as ‘Bronco’.

Someone in the MDC Alliance had provided the intoxicating brew for the exuberant youths and turned them into some creatures conceived from the ancient world and possessed with some difficult-to-appease spirit.

As one further foraged the city centre, the aftermath of it all told a sad narrative of a future that is being robbed of a promising generation by power hungry individuals who are willing to sacrifice lives in order to get to State House.

Chamisa, together with his sidekicks Tendai Biti and Job Sikhala, may quote all verses in the Bible and tell us all the glowing, beautiful things about democracy but that will never mask their role in the destruction of a country that is slowly finding its feet towards prosperity.

They may come before us, in front of cameras, waving the democracy and human rights ticket but that will do little to salvage their careers, especially in the wake of the disastrous August 16 2019 affair.

For almost a month, they preached the message of hate, militarising children and propping youths to ‘fight’ the Government.

But cometh the day, cometh the hour, they were nowhere to be found; instead safely tucking themselves in the comfort of some well-to-do safe house in Harare.

Like their handlers, they waited with bated breaths for news for news from the battle front.

The waiting lazily turned into panic but the handlers were on hand to give them hope and, with it, false bravado.

That hope would soon turn into despair, then desperation as the handlers suddenly started asking pointed questions.

Suddenly it was confusion and panic station all over.

Scampering for salvation, a press conference was called for by the MDC Alliance leadership at some safe house in Milton Park.

Meanwhile, in the city centre, the few drunk protesters were being deftly and swiftly contained by the alert security forces.

“We will not stop the demonstrations,” a visibly agitated Chamisa thundered during the press conference, seemingly searching for answers from elsewhere — the dark world, one would suppose.

By the time he finished his inane presser, Harare had returned to normalcy. 

Across the Southern African region, something special was happening, with the regional body undeterred by vain whispers of a few desperate and drunk hoodlums.

Preparations were being made for the assumption of the SADC Organ on Politics by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

This is where the real politics was taking place.

Where the real world was standing up to the West for trying to sodomise Zimbabwe through their illegal economic sanctions.

Another rowdy gang of protesters, organised by the West, was huffing and puffing in Tanzania; milling around the SADC Summit venue, hoping to upset the apple cart and humiliate President Mnangagwa.

As expected, all that came to naught as the Tanzanian authorities told them bluntly to stop their lawlessness.

Instead, it was resolved during the Summit that on October 25 2019, SADC will come together and demand an end to the illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe.

This is another victory for ZANU PF and President Mnangagwa.

We have seen and heard these antics time and again.

And they always come out with the same result; that ZANU PF is here to stay.

The US Ambassador Brian Nichols had tried in vain to push the demonstrations project.

Consider the following from The Sunday Mail:

“Details of how the United States of America Ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian Nichols actively encouraged senior MDC officials to press on with Friday’s demonstrations by assuring them that Washington ‘…would impose punitive measures should Government arrest or assault the protestors’, have emerged.

Diplomatic sources privy to the behind-the-scenes engagement between US embassy officials and the MDC top leadership told The Sunday Mail that the grand scheme is part of a broader co-ordinated project that also includes civil society organisations, some of which have been planning protests against President Emmerson Mnangagwa during the ongoing SADC Summit that ends today.

However, alert Tanzanian authorities, who were aware of the planned protests, which were supposed to coincide with the protests in Harare, reportedly ‘strongly warned’ the organisers of the grave implications of the plans.”

As night finally fell upon Harare, everyone had gone back to their devices, with the so-called demonstration long forgotten and Chamisa and his cohorts’ political faded careers desperately tangling with the darkness of the night.

It was all over for them.

Let those with ears listen.