Tajamuka lashes out at Zanu-PF

TAJAMUKA/SESIJIKILE citizen movement has lashed out at Zanu-PF for claiming that the ongoing demonstrations against President Robert Mugabe's alleged misrule were sponsored by Britain and the United States, saying government had itself to blame for the protests.

In a strongly-worded statement, #Tajamuka/Sesijikile said government should stop taking the people for unthinking robots.

"This is not new to Zimbabweans whom the Zanu-PF government has for the past 36 years insulted through implicit statements which portray people as some machines who are commandeered from outside and cannot think for themselves," part of the statement read.

"It is a fact that neither Britain nor the United States promised 2,2 million jobs before the 2013 harmonised elections which the youths are demanding; neither the US nor Britain crafted Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016 which has closed livelihoods for cross-border traders and the informal sector; neither the US nor Britain instructed the police to mount numerous roadblocks which are cash cows for local police stations and Zanu-PF; neither the US nor Britain stole the $15 billion diamond money with no trace that Mugabe himself openly said is missing."

#Tajamuka was reacting to a story published in the public media that protests in Zimbabwe were being sponsored by British and US spies. The story also refuted reports of police brutality on protesters, alleging the demonstrations were being sponsored to tarnish the image of the country.

The story also claimed that CNN, in its ploy to discredit the government of Zimbabwe, had mounted sustained coverage on purported police brutality and human rights violations.

But the pressure group said it was a peaceful citizens campaign generated by young people in Zimbabwe, funded by citizens from various segments of society in the country that include cross-border traders, the informal sector, residents, civil servants, students and religious groups, among others.

"No amount of intimidation, arrests, assaults, character assassinations, instillation of fear, de-legitimisation, and criminalisation of the campaign will stop the young people of Zimbabwe," #Tajamuka added.

The group also castigated the police for downplaying the number of people arrested in Saturday's demonstrations by opposition political parties under the banner of the National Electoral Reform Agenda (Nera) to 20 when over 100 protesters, who included MPs, were arrested.