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Opinion / Columnist

British obsession with Zimbabwe politics nauseating

14 Jul 2023 at 07:41hrs | Views
It is election time again in Zimbabwe and the British are at it again, pushing a narrative to discredit the August 23, 2023 harmonised elections, because it is clear Zanu-PF is winning.

It seems to have suddenly dawned to the British that the only way to deal with a Zanu-PF win is to discredit the election process and keep Zimbabwe in the murky waters of negative international diplomacy.

One thing telling in our lifetime is the propensity of the British, especially the House of Commons, to abrogate itself the right to superintend over Zimbabwe.

Many progressive thinking people are aware of how the House of Commons has misinformed itself that Zimbabwe is their priority as if Zimbabwe is a province of Britain.

The British lack respect for Zimbabwe under Zanu-PF, because they want a puppet government in power.

Suffice to say, the same British whom Zanu-PF had to take up arms against, and fight a protracted blood-letting liberation war to achieve black majority rule, have become political deities of Zimbabwe.  

Hardly a month passes without the House Commons taking up matters against the Government of Zimbabwe, effectively turning into being Zimbabwe's main opposition.

Like the proverbial outsider mourning more than the bereaved, the British speak louder than CCC and MDC alliance combined.

That obsession is nauseating.

The House of Commons has also used BBC as the main anti-Zimbabwe propaganda machinery.

They have used BBC to chant British propaganda against many countries in the world that are not in good books with Britain and its main ally the United States of America.

The BBC has no shame at all. Against all the grain of what the Second Republic has done in Zimbabwe, socially, economically and politically, the BBC still try to squeeze one bad story after another. After all, the stories lack facts and are written malice throughout.

In this election time, the British are pushing a narrative to discredit Zimbabwe's elections and they disregard facts about Job Sikhala's arrest and twist them for their own aggrandisement. Sikhala is in remand prison for breaching bail conditions, otherwise he would have been tried from home. Sikhala carved his own situation.

It has turned out that whenever the House of Commons has nothing meaningful to discuss, which they rarely have, they turn to the subject of Zimbabwe.

The narrative is that President Mnangagwa has not reformed enough, he has shrunk the democratic space etc, all of which are lies meant to prop up the opposition and discredit the elections. The British never rest on Zimbabwe.

When a member of the opposition breaks Zimbabwean law and is arrested, the British call it abuse of human rights. What crass?

No one in opposition in Zimbabwe breaks the law, they must just do anything they want, according to the British.

Every time the House of Commons discusses Zimbabwe, the issue of re-joining Commonwealth comes into play and conditions are immediately announced.

There is no doubt that Britain has been playing tricks and pulling strings behind the scenes on the Commonwealth issue because each time they discuss Zimbabwe they tie the story to the re-joining of Commonwealth.

Unbeknown to the British, Zimbabwe has many options. The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are coming up fast as a serious alternative.

BRICS are vast and very accommodative and their bank which is now backing its currency with gold, will soon take its good share of the world economy.  

Gone will be the days when the United States of America continues to arm twist smaller nations using multilateral financial institutions to throttle economies into submission.

That abuse will be a thing of the past.

Diplomatic fatigue might soon hit Zimbabwe as it has tried everything in its power to re-join Commonwealth and the British are playing the bad game behind the scenes.

A good five years have gone since the Second Republic in Zimbabwe has started critical engagements with the Commonwealth. Nothing has materialised as the British play dirty behind the scenes. I see Zimbabwe one day abandoning the search to re-join Commonwealth. At this rate of British arrogance and fiddling it is no longer worth it.

It might be a waste of time.

It must be known that Zimbabwe is not seeking to re-join Commonwealth as junior or subservient partner but as a member equal to all others.

After all, there is nothing more special happening in the Commonwealth at the moment that warrants Zimbabwe to go asking to re-join on bended knees. NO! Zimbabwe was not expelled  from Commonwealth, it withdrew voluntarily. Zimbabwe should, therefore, not be treated like a criminal.

The current crop of British politicians in the House of Commons do not seem to understand the matrix of world diplomacy and sovereignty. They seem to misinform themselves that they are big brothers, that they are the greatest and that they have the powers to lecture to Zimbabwe what democracy is.

They have forgotten that until 43 years ago, the British were forced by Zanu-PF and its allies in the liberation movement, through the barrel of the gun to accept one man one vote and to accept that black people equally have rights like them.

But the House of Commons is making a grand mistake. Zanu-PF is definitely winning the August 23, 2023 harmonised elections on the plinth of its record of improved service delivery and revolutionary ethos.

Whatever noise the British will make and whichever way they take it will be their own problem.

Zanu-PF under President Mnangagwa has done enough good in the past five years to deserve another term.

The majority of the voters in Zimbabwe are not stupid. They know what Zanu-PF has done for them. They know what Zanu-PF can do for them and they will defend the revolutionary party through the ballot.

By supporting an opposition that is in tatters openly, the House of Commons will be left with an egg of their face since Zanu-PF is pretty too organised and prepared for elections.

No amount of handling by the British will hand the electoral victory to CCC and MDC A.

The British are wasting their time with cheap talk and propaganda.

Source - The Herald
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