A FRESH diplomatic row is brewing between President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government and the United States embassy in Harare over allegations that Joe Biden’s administration was clandestinely planning to train opposition MDC Alliance polling agents to safeguard their vote in the 2023 elections.
On Saturday, Presidential spokesperson George Charamba
sensationally claimed on his Twitter handle @Jamwanda2 that government had
received intelligence that two unnamed high-ranking MDC Alliance officials
approached the US embassy seeking assistance in the training and equipping of
50 election agents ahead of the 2023 polls.
Charamba described the move as an unwarranted interference
in the country’s political affairs, warning the US government that it was
“skating on thin ice”.
“CHAMISA-ASSISTED GROSS UNITED STATES INTERFERENCE IN THE
POLITICS OF ZIMBABWE: On 21st September 2021, two MDC-CHAMISA officials, one
very high-ranking, another standing for youth wing, approached the PUBLIC
AFFAIRS SECTION of the US EMBASSY in HARARE with a request for the same to
assist with the training and equipping of 50 election agents ahead of 2023
harmonised elections,” Charamba tweeted.
“An official of @usembassyharare advised them to put
together a formal request. In the meantime, @usembassyharare has begun
agitating for by-elections in Zimbabwe in which it is a clear contestant
through its funded proxy. Unless the two MDC-CHAMISA officials (come) out and
explain themselves speedily, I will go a step further to help them out.
Meanwhile, @usembassyharare needs to be reminded it is skating on very thin ice
in the middle of the Savannah!!!”
But MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa’s spokesperson
Nkululeko Sibanda said there was no reason why Charamba should fret over issues
of training of election agents as it was aimed at promoting free and fair
elections.
“Charamba is speaking from a museum. Why does he think that
training of election agents is political interference? It is archaic. There is
no interference in the training of election agents,” he said.
“He actually should be supporting it because it promotes
free and fair elections. We cannot enjoy cheated elections. We need reforms
that allow us to avoid disputed polls.”
In 2018, different political analysts attributed Chamisa’s
loss to Mnangagwa to inadequate deployment of agents to monitor the elections
at remote polling stations.
This is not the first time that government and Zanu PF
officials have attacked Western embassies, particularly the US and British, for
pushing a regime change agenda.
Last year, Zanu PF acting political commissar Patrick
Chinamasa threatened to declare the former US ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian
Nichols a persona non grata after accusing him of funding civic society
organisations to revolt against government.
Political analyst Eldred Masunungure said: “By virtue of
them being civil servants, government officials are obligated to abide by the
formal diplomatic procedures on relating with foreign embassies. We have seen
government officials doubling as ruling party spokespersons, hence the need for
streamlining the communication strategies from within the government.
“Careless attacks on foreign embassies risks complicating
the relations of the government and other States. (Information ministry
secretary) Ndavaningi Mangwana earlier this (last) week advised the US embassy
to approach the Foreign Affairs ministry, which was noble and should be
two-way. Government spokespersons know where the US embassy is and should seek
to address their concerns in a diplomatic way.”
He said it was against the law for local political parties
to receive funds from other States, but the rule of law should be applied to
all individuals violating the statutes.
“The law prohibits funding of political parties from
outside, including Zanu PF, which has, however, received funds from several
governments, China included,” Masunungure said.
But Zanu PF party acting spokesperson Mike Bimha dismissed
the claims that the ruling party had received foreign funding.
“Zanu PF is broke, that is why we are mobilising funds from
our supporters. We recently launched a
programme to mobilise US$140 million from our supporters, which translates to
US$14 million from each province. We run a number of programmes which require
funding, hence the internal mobilisation. Funding political parties is not
China’s way of doing business. It invests in a government. That Zanu PF has
been funded by China are unfounded claims,” he said.
Meanwhile, US charge d’affaires and acting ambassador to
Zimbabwe, Thomas Hastings, last Friday urged citizens to register to vote in
the forthcoming 2023 elections.
Hastings said this in Bulawayo during a tour of Princess
Margaret Health Clinic funded by the Organisation for Public Health
Interventions and Development.
He applauded the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) for
resuming voter registration following relaxation of COVID-19 lockdown
restrictions.
“We applaud Zec for its efforts at the voter registration
process, also for beginning the census and delimitation processes. I believe in
one of the tweets we had, a quote from our Vice-President Kamala Harris which
said the right to vote is the right which unlocks all the rights. The upcoming
delimitation exercise — creation of new electoral boundaries — will be
conducted using census data,” Hastings said.
“This is something that we feel very strongly about … we
feel democracy is very important. We feel that voter registration is, of
course, a key piece to having good elections. That is why we are pleased to see
voter registration underway here, and yes, we encourage Zimbabweans to take
part in voter registration.”
He said COVID-19 was not an excuse, arguing that other
countries such as Zambia recently held elections during the pandemic.
“The Constitution of Zimbabwe says there should be by
elections when there are vacancies. I know under COVID-19, there have to be
considerations for safety, but many countries in the world, including our own,
have managed to hold elections safely even during COVID-19,” he said.
Hastings said Zimbabwe had done well in its COVID-19
vaccination exercise, hence the country should be confident enough to conduct
by-elections. Newsday
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