Mnangagwa says 'Britain should mind its own business'

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.