MEDDLESOME Britain should focus on problems at home and stop poking its nose into the affairs of Zimbabwe through contrived stories and false oppositional narratives, President Mnangagwa has said.
Responding to bizarre claims by nostalgic British House of
Lords representatives that the governing party Zanu PF was targeting the
opposition, President Mnangagwa, through his spokesperson Mr George Charamba,
said Zimbabwe’s erstwhile colonisers cannot tell Zimbabwe, a sovereign nation,
what to do.
The British, through their sponsored opposition and
non-governmental organisations, have been desperately trying to block the
passage of the Private and Voluntary Organisation (PVO) Bill, ostensibly
because it infringes on constitutional liberties, although it really seeks to
end money laundering and rein in foreign funding of local politics.
But President Mnangagwa said come rain or sunshine, the
Bill would be passed in accordance with the laws of the country.
“The PVO Bill, which they are fretting about, will be
passed. It is a Zimbabwean law, meant to deal with a Zimbabwean situation and
it will proceed that way.
“However, we also thank them, the British government and
the House of Lords, for confirming that they continue to meddle in our own
affairs. By their own admission, they have been brokering peace between
antagonistic factions of the opposition.”
Zimbabwe’s opposition, which has splintered several times
in fights over donor funds and control of the party, was formed at the behest
of white former commercial farmers, mostly of British heritage who sought to
install a puppet government and reverse the Land Reform Programme, which
redressed land inequities.
Up to this day, Britain maintains economic sanctions on
Zimbabwe which have negatively affected the country’s full growth potential.
Although President Mnangagwa has opened doors for
engagement and reengagement, in a policy that has been embraced by even former
hostile nations in the European Union, the British have played both dumb and
blind.
Thus despite the political and economic reforms that have
been initiated since President Mnangagwa came into office in 2017, the British,
in cahoots with their sponsored NGOs and opposition political parties, prefer
to look the other way.
Said President Mnangagwa: “The British Lords should not be
in the habit of writing fiction about Zimbabwe in order to debate it. They have
so much on their plate, there is their soaring inflation at home, there are
certain oddities that are happening within their own Parliament, they have
blowbacks relating to their exit of Europe, not to mention what is happening in
Eastern Europe and of course their own domestic policy which get them to want
to use foreign affairs as a red herring.
“When you go through the things they allege are happening
in Zimbabwe, you cannot but wonder if their embassy here is of any use at all.
Nothing that they are raising or debating approximates the reality on the
ground. Anyway, the point must be made and made instantly that in 1980,
Zimbabwe got independence and has absolutely nothing to do with the British,
(which is) made worse by the fact that the British, in their lack of wisdom,
decided to slap Zimbabwe with sanctions it does not deserve. Can you imagine if
the European Union was to invoke its own values and expectations in respect to
Britain after Brexit?
“Why do they think we still stand beholden to a colonial
power we ousted from this country? How do they stand in loco parentisis (in the
place of a parent) to us?
“They must mind their own business, they cut relations with
us (and) we got nothing from them except for their own pestering and to that
extent, we don’t pay attention to what they are saying.”
President Mnangagwa dismissed claims by some British Lords
that Zanu PF was sponsoring the MDC-Alliance.
“By their own absurd expectation, they expect Zanu PF to
build an opposition against itself. They don’t do it in the UK, why do they
expect us to do that? The opposition will fall or rise on the basis of
authentic policies and the more they debate Zimbabwe and confirm that they have
been meddling in our affairs, the more they create a crisis for opposition in
Zimbabwe,” he said. Herald
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