THE most critical aspect about the recent approval by Cabinet of amendments to the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Bill, also known as the Patriotic Bill, is that it is driven by the Government’s noble drive to further assert its unwavering stance on the defence and protection of the country’s sovereignty and national interest especially from outsiders who have been openly colluding with their local lackeys to destabilise the country.

There are many reasons the country has taken that path to maintain the peace and tranquillity that has been the hallmark of its independence even in the wake of brazen interference into its internal affairs by hostile foreign governments.

Western powers are embittered by Zimbabwe’s decision to give back land to its rightful owners through the revolutionary Land Reform and Resettlement Programme of 2000.

The success of that programme which is manifesting through the innumerable strides being made by new owners of the land loosens Western countries’ mean grip on the economies of African countries.

A successful Zimbabwe, via unmitigated ownership and control of the means of production sets a ‘bad’ precedence for the rest of the so-called developing world whose natural resources and land are still controlled by their erstwhile colonisers.

Hence the imposition of illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe by the US on December 21 2001 and the EU on February 18 2002 to curtail its stellar march to prosperity.

The economy has taken a battering through the unjust sanctions as well as a negative perception created by the West and their inane puppets.

The sanctions are meant to achieve two objectives.

First, to achieve the illegal regime change agenda.

Second, to divide the people of Zimbabwe along tribal lines.

To achieve this, more than 4 000 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been created to drive a wedge between the people of Zimbabwe and to turn them against their leadership.

Within the country, Western envoys and their local partners are under strict instructions to downplay the devastating effects of the economic sanctions.

They claim corruption has destroyed the economy.

Such is the naivety that even where natural disasters and climate change has nudged the agriculture sector, they claim that the Land Reform Programme has failed to achieve its intended objectives.

That had to stop at some point.

And that glorious moment came on Tuesday last week when the perfected amendments were finally made public after what seemed like an eternal wait.

But as a country, as a people, we can never put the horrors of those two excruciating decades behind us.

And those two decades of abuse by Western countries in collaboration with their local quislings have taught us that there can never be flowers and chocolates, nor warm embraces for those who tangle with the enemy.

Under the amendments, inviting a military attack on the country from hostile foreign governments, particularly from the West through private correspondence will attract the death penalty or life imprisonment.  

Those who call for and support the imposition of economic sanctions and trade restrictions against the country will be jailed for a period of up to five years.

Anyone who encourages the maintenance and sustenance of sanctions against Harare will be barred from voting, registering as voters and holding public office for up to 15 years.

“Our Constitutional order of Zimbabwe that is based on parliamentary democracy affords many avenues for aggrieved citizens to redress their wrongs, including against the State,” reads part of the Bill’s memorandum.

“It is therefore improper for citizens and residents of Zimbabwe to implement measures that undermine our sovereignty, dignity and independence as a nation. This (new) clause will criminalise such conduct.”

It goes on:

“Any citizen or permanent resident of Zimbabwe who, within or outside Zimbabwe, actively partakes (whether himself or herself or through an agent, and whether on his or her own initiative or at the invitation of the foreign government concerned or any of its agents, proxies or entities) in any meeting whose object the accused knows or has reasonable grounds for believing involves the consideration of or the planning for military or other armed intervention in Zimbabwe by the foreign government concerned or another foreign government, or by any of their agents, proxies or entities; or subverting, upsetting, overthrowing or overturning constitutional government in Zimbabwe; shall be guilty of willfully damaging the national interest of Zimbabwe and liable to — the same penalties as for treason.”

Several opposition leaders and members of the so-called civil society who call themselves ‘democracy activists’ have been over the years on whirlwind tours to Western capitals demonising the country and claiming that they will ‘deliver’ democracy to Zimbabwe for and on behalf of their handlers.

In return, Western countries have since poured more than a US$1 billion to support the activities of their puppets in order to remove ZANU PF from power.

The MDC founding leader, the late Morgan Tsvangirai gleefully traversed the Western world calling for sanctions.

On March 12 2002, Tsvangirai met a senior member of the US Government, Senator Russell Feingold, in Washington whom he told ‘to paint as bleak a picture as possible’.

Not even the irony of calling for South Africa to cut off power supply could capture his hopeless imagination, if at all he had any.

In 2002 he said to the BBC: “South Africa should say ‘Ok, under those circumstances we are going to cut fuel, we are going to cut transport links’.”

In 2009, CCC leader Nelson Chamisa called for the US Special Forces to effect a military invasion in Zimbabwe to remove ZANU PF from power.

A Wikileaks dated January 14 2009 said, among other things that key institutions like the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had to be sanctioned in order to ‘weaken’ the ZANU PF Government.

An extract from the cable says:

“Turning to US policy, Chamisa said rhetoric that ‘Mugabe must go’ was empty and counterproductive. Regime opponents initially hoped that the rhetoric would be complemented by action. Inaction on the part of the US was causing people to lose heart. Further, ZANU PF was using US statements as a pretext to crack down on the MDC and civil society, both of which it was accusing of collaborating with the US to bring about regime change. We asked Chamisa what concrete actions the US and international community could take. He responded: military intervention to remove the regime, indictments of Mugabe and other ZANU PF officials in international courts, and sanctioning of the Reserve Bank.”

In the intervening period we have seen many officials from the opposition openly admitting that they indeed called for the imposition of the sanctions and to have the country isolated from the globe so that they could take over power.

Western envoys operating in the country have also done little to mask their resentment of a political order in the country which they believe would be severed from the masses so that their puppets take over the reins.

That the amendments have been met with unrestrained anger and fury mainly from the opposition and their Western handlers speaks volumes about the extent they have been willing to go in order to bring anarchy and chaos into the country to achieve regime change through illegal means.

But for a country that has endured more than two decades of untold suffering wrought by Western powers and their local acolytes over its decision to address a chief grievance of the struggle for freedom, stamping its foot on tackling continued interference from former colonisers and their abrasive allies marks a significant step towards protecting its citizens and territory from the vagaries of neo-colonialism.

For Zimbabwe, this is about its territorial integrity more than anything else.