'Chamisa's stubborn pursuit of its destabilisation agenda has now reached its zenith'

Zanu-PF yesterday castigated the opposition party over its planned nationwide demonstrations.

In a statement, Zanu-PF national spokesperson, Simon Khaya Moyo, said the MDC's "continued and stubborn pursuit of its destabilisation agenda has now reached its zenith", a feat the ruling party said it could no longer ignore.

"The revolutionary Zanu-PF party can no longer watch idly while the … peace and tranquillity the country enjoys is undermined by a puppet organisation hell bent on pleasing its foreign handlers," he said.

Khaya Moyo also warned diplomats and non-governmental organisations to desist from interfering in political processes within the country, saying the party would not be guided on how to run its affairs in a democratic manner.

But EU ambassador Timo Olkkonen hit back, describing allegations by government that Western countries were working to effect illegal regime change in the country by funding opposition demonstrations and training civil society to stage uprisings as misplaced.

Olkkonen said such allegations were an attempt to divert the people of Zimbabwe's attention from the real issues.

"I don't know where these statements are coming from. I don't believe them. We have discussed them with colleagues and I don't believe there is truth behind them," he said.

"So I think these issues about, you know, issues of regime change agenda and so on, are distractions. They are attempts by certain quotas of trying to divert the attention to the real problems to something that doesn't actually exist, but sounds exciting," Olkkonen said.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Home Affairs minister Cain Mathema accused the Western diplomats, particularly the United States and the EU, of playing opposition politics in the country.

Speaking during an HStv radio interview, on the same day, Olkkonen said he would not respond to the fake news because it would not change the minds of those propagating the agenda.

The EU envoy said he would not comment on all fake news just thrown about without justification.

"It could be a waste of my time because many of these people peddling this kind of information would not change their minds because they have some kind of agenda of their own against diplomatic missions," he said.

Olkkonen added that commenting on the unsubstantiated claim had ripple effects on EU relations with Zimbabwe.