Zimbabwe slams Western media onslaught

The onslaught being directed to Zimbabwe by the West and its media is as a result of vast wealth endowments the country has which they want to resume their old habits of looting, a Cabinet minister has said.

Following the launch of the land reform programme in 2000, Zimbabwe attracted global hostility that witnessed the proliferation of hostile propaganda.

Through the media and humanitarian imperialist information sources, Zimbabwe faced excessive diplomatic assault that saw the west calling for a UN resolution that would see Zimbabwe invaded.

Presenting a paper titled "The Evolution of Information Systems and its Impact on National Security" to participants of the National Defence Course at Zimbabwe National Defence University yesterday, Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa said the onslaught is aimed to undermine patriotism in the populace and cause despondency.

"The Zimbabwe state is firmly rooted in the people of the land owning and enjoying their God given riches.

"The state owes its existence to the sacrifice of more than 100 000 souls who perished to attain freedom, independence and democracy.

"The information onslaught is determined to undermine the patriotic psyche of the populace. Disarmed mentally, the post imperialists would then march back and resume their old habits of marauding plunder," she said.

"The West is enamoured to the ghost of Cecil John's Rhodes who hired a mercenary army to carve out the Zimbabwe real estate for the defunct British Empire.

"They went on to Christian name his predatory British South Africa Company enterprise as the Anglo- American Corporation.

"This natural resource corporate entity would exploit and dominate the sub-region as it hauled unimaginable riches to London, Washington and other capitals of the West.

"This is the bedrock of the hostile forces that drive the information onslaught against Zimbabwe."

 She said the main bone of contention for the West are the ZANLA-ZIPRA guerrilla formations that are core of Zimbabwe as a nation that proudly defends against a return to the Imperial plunder of the past.

Minister Mutsvangwa said the national security apparatus must always be fully equipped to fend off any onslaught of Western nations whose purpose has been the continued exploitation of our mineral resources using advanced information systems and supported by unilateral and illegal sanctions.

"The military industry complex of the West has been employing every aspect of aggression in their tool-box of cherished re-conquest as they try to unseat the entrenched state of Zimbabwe.

"Sanctions, economic strangulation, sabotage and threats of military invasion are constantly being toyed with as options of uprooting and disposing of the targeted state of Zimbabwe" she said.

Coming from the deep experience of the Chimurenga armed struggle, she said the Zimbabwean populace is naturally alert and vigilant to post imperial encroachment.

Turning to technological developments, she said the evolution of information technology systems has been making the world a smaller place since the invention of the printing press, adding the evolution has created the internet, which from its origins as a secure, nuclear-proof communications system for the military, has become a true global information system.

"Needless to say, this interaction between the world's nations has been greatly facilitated by the information technologies evolution, thus collapsing time, de-territorising space, and rendering traditional boundaries increasingly obsolete," she added.

The Second Republic, she said remained committed to feeding the nation the right information through the correct and appropriate media channels.

She said as a commitment to press freedom, liberalisation and pluralism, the Government had has issued new radio and television licenses to new players.