Britain overstepping its bounds on Zimbabwe

It boggles the mind why the British government seems not to understand that Zimbabwe ceased to be a colony of the Crown over four decades ago.

How else should one explain the British's continuous interference in the internal affairs of the Southern African nation, considering that the latter is sovereign?

In a recent video, the United Kingdom (UK) House of Lords accused the Zimbabwean Government of violating human rights.

The House claimed that opposition elements in Zimbabwe were being targeted by Government and that such developments should be considered in Zimbabwe's application to be re-admitted into the Commonwealth.

Now, who does not know that over the years, the MDC Alliance faction has perfected the art of creating stunts to attract the international community's attention in the vain and ill-placed hope of besmirching President Mnangagwa and to wring non-existent political capital from them?

Recently, the faction claimed that one of its deputy leaders, Tendai Biti had been assaulted and abducted from his home during the night, by five unidentified men driving a white Isuzu motor vehicle.

The faction's secretary-general, Chalton Hwende, reportedly confirmed the incident to some online publications which ran with the story.

Realising the grave nature of the claims which the faction had made against the State, the faction's spokesperson, Fadzai Mahere dismissed the story as "fake news" and distanced Hwende from the story.

It became clear that the alleged Biti abduction was meant to draw the attention of the world ahead of United States (US) President Joe Biden's first of the two Summits for Democracy, which is pencilled to run from 9 to 10 December 2021.

The question on every perceptive Zimbabwean's mind is — are there human rights violations that justify barring Zimbabwe from joining the Commonwealth or maintain illegal sanctions on the country?

I bet my last cent, the British will not make a video answering such issues; they rather peddle lies which sustain their illegal regime change agenda.

Furthermore, the House of Lords raised concerns over the move by the Zimbabwean Parliament to insert the Patriotic Bill dictates in the Criminal Codification Act.

Funny enough, the US has the Logan Act, a law that criminalises negotiation by unauthorised individuals with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States, and none is making noise about it.

To add on to that, during the 2017-2019 Conservative administration, some Brits petitioned their government to bring in a UK equivalent of the Logan Act.

Authors of the petition believed that the UK was supposed to have something equivalent as the European Union (EU) was essentially a foreign government with whom the UK was in dispute.

With such hindsight, it is, therefore, proper for Zimbabwe to demand that the British first make noise about the Logan Act before making demands on the Patriotic Act.

To add to the madness, the House of Lords opined that there was need for the UK to put pressure on SADC countries to put Zimbabwe on their agenda. Furthermore, it was revealed that the UK Foreign Office had been engaging trade unions including teachers over salary issues.

If this does not amount to interference, then nothing does.

It also sheds light to why associations such as the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) were saying despite the Zimbabwean Government's commitment to pay civil servants' bonuses in US dollars this November, they would withdraw labour as exam classes were about to sit.

It shows that some of these unions do not genuinely stand for the welfare of teachers, but are illegal regime change surrogates. They are puppets of Britain, no wonder why the puppeteer is uncomfortable with the insertion of the Patriotic Bill dictates in the Criminal Codification Act.

Relatedly, Baroness Kate Hoey implored the UK government to use Zambia and other like-minded countries in the region to put pressure on Zimbabwe prior to the forthcoming 2023 Harmonised Elections. Hoey said, "The pressure has to come from those countries. We can help, but we must make sure that they do their bit so that we can get back to a situation where the people of Zimbabwe genuinely have free and fair elections in 2023".

Thus, according to the British, free and fair elections are that whose conditions are unfavourable to Zanu-PF — what lunacy!

The long and short of it is that Zimbabwe is under attack again, proponents of the illegal regime change agenda have come out guns blazing. What they do not see is that it is them that are committing human rights violations against the people of Zimbabwe.

For over two decades, the Southern African nation has been under unjustified sanctions which impacted economic growth — all because our erstwhile colonisers want to install a puppet government and reverse the Land Reform Programme.

It is sad that Zimbabwean citizens like the MDC Alliance faction members are being used to create sideshows to distract the world's attention from the suffering of the real victims of Western political powers. As Zimbabweans, especially the youth, are running around to register as voters in preparation for 2023, it is important for them to know who the enemy of Zimbabweans is.

As they prepare for the ballot booth, they should know that those who invited sanctions and continue to ask for their retention are their worst and foremost enemies. They are the ones who are responsible for the jobs and decent lives that the youth yearn for, but cannot get due to sanctions.