Mnangagwa warns against regime change demos

Government has warned it will not tolerate any attempts by the opposition to topple President Mnangagwa as he was democratically elected on July 30 last year.

In a statement on Wednesday, Secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Nick Mangwana decried the perpetual electioneering mindset still gripping the opposition, describing it as retrogressive.

"Government takes note of media reports wherein some political entities made threats to overthrow the constitutionally-elected Government and subsequently install an unelected person as President of Zimbabwe.

"Zimbabwe is a constitutional democracy with an elected leader, His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose term of office runs until 2023," said Mr Mangwana.

Utterances and social media posts by senior members of the opposition, especially MDC-Alliance, have shown appetite to cause unrest in the country. Mr Mangwana urged Zimbabweans to heed President Mnangagwa's call for peace.

"The President values unity, peace and tranquillity in the country and has urged the nation to focus on rebuilding the economy with the immediate business being that of delivering Vision 2030 aimed at making Zimbabwe an upper middle income economy," said Mr Mangwana.

He added: "It will be recalled that in his 2019 New Year message, the President emphasised that elections are now behind us, and the time has come to refocus on improving livelihoods and the general welfare of our citizens."

Mr Mangwana said Zimbabwe needed to draw on a sense of unity and purpose and political maturity to move on from regressive actions and posturing. Since the July 31 harmonised elections, there has been rhetoric in opposition circles in which they promise to spoil the party for the elected Government. Mr Mangwana said such ill-conceived actions will not be tolerated.

"Government therefore places on record that any attempts to topple the Government and institute the long failed illegal regime change will be frowned upon," said Mr Mangwana. He said the executive was preoccupied with delivering on its election promises to the people of Zimbabwe.

"We cannot remain stuck in the electioneering and politicking mode: it is common cause that the majority of our people who elected President Mnangagwa are keen to see him deliver on his electoral promises, a task he is seized with at the moment.

"Government will continue to provide a peaceful and stable environment where business is allowed to flourish and citizens enjoy their constitutional rights," he said.

Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga said the ZRP was ready to deal with any eventualities arising from the threats by opposition.

"We have heard about this information but ourselves as an organisation we are going to make sure that our officers are properly trained and equipped, to make sure they will be able to overcome the intended demonstrations being talked about," said Comm-Gen Matanga.

He discouraged Zimbabweans from unlawful actions by sponsored outfits.

"At the same time, I want to appeal to members of the public to make sure that they do not involve themselves in such demonstrations. "After coming from the harmonised elections we are looking forward to Government putting in place developmental programmes for the country from which all citizens will benefit. I see no reason why the country must remain in election mode other than concentrating on development," he said.

"As an organisation, we are very ready but while we are ready it is not our wish that we remain in a situation where we expect problems from our political parties and even non-governmental organisations. We discourage these people from doing that," said Comm-Gen Matanga.

There have been reports of clandestine plots by embassy officials, NGOs and opposition members to unseat President Mnangagwa.