Opinion / Columnist
How the EU captured Sadc observer Mission
29 Sep 2023 at 06:19hrs | Views
THE SADC Election Observer Mission (SEOM) and the opposition CCC were pawns in the European Union (EU) grand scheme to effect regime change in Zimbabwe with the August 23/24 harmonised elections the theatre in which the Western world sought to engineer the demise of Zanu-PF, our Harare Bureau can exclusively report.
To disguise its regime change agenda, the EU recruited elements in the SADC region, in particular the SEOM which was led by Dr Nevers Mumba, a former vice president of Zambia, who was a willing tool of the Western world's devious agenda.
That agenda also included a coterie of local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) which were supposed to have a parallel voter tabulation process and set the agenda for a CCC win.
Information gleaned from several diplomatic sources reveals a chain of events that culminated in the production of harmonised statements between the EU Observer Mission, SEOM and other captured election observers.
Ultimately, the now hugely discredited SADC election report, on which the opposition is desperately seeking political resurrection, was predetermined and fitted a template that was designed and approved in Western capitals.
Its purported authorship by the SEOM was meant to give credence to the premeditated views of the West, which sought a back seat because of its prolonged and rather documented altercation with Zimbabwe.
From the day Dr Mumba arrived in Zimbabwe on August 16, to the day he read his Preliminary Report on August 25, he was receiving daily updates from the EU and getting advice from the Western observers and their local partners in the form of NGOs, the informed sources said.
"When he arrived in Zimbabwe on August 16, Dr Mumba immediately held meetings with the European Union Deputy Chief Observer Beata Martin – Rozumilowicz at the Holiday Inn in Harare, where he informed her that he wanted ‘Zanu-PF to go' and that SADC, through the observer mission he was chairing, was ‘to be used as a mouthpiece for the condemnation of the polls instead of the usual Western countries' observers whose statements are quickly dismissed due to the animosity that exists between Zimbabwe and the West," said the source.
Zimbabwe and the EU had been estranged for over two decades but the advent of the Second Republic saw a marked thawing of relations—with President Mnangagwa inviting the bloc to observe the country's elections both in 2018 and 2023.
But beyond its pretensions of engaging Zimbabwe, the EU was seemingly determined to undermine that goodwill as it managed to capture Dr Mumba and feed him with its preconceived report on elections, incredulously seven days before the polls.
"This is why Mumba had a position on the election's freeness, fairness and credibility even before he had observed the polls, he was just a willing tool of the West and he abused his position to push for an agenda that was made in Europe."
Present in the meeting that Dr Mumba had with EU at the Holiday Inn were Messrs Rozumilowicz, Marie D'arenberg (EU deputy Observers Co-ordinator), Stefan SZWED (Political analyst), Marcel Castels (EU elections analyst), and Ivaylo Pentchev (EU Media analyst).
There was shared hatred for Zanu-PF between Dr Mumba and the EU, with the former revealing that the EU position was of mutual interest with his President Hakainde Hichilema.
"Dr Mumba told the EU delegation that he had the blessings of the SADC Troika chairperson, President Hichilema Hakainde, whom he claimed, had "instructed him to make sure that the opposition's interests were not ignored".
Dr Mumba told the EU officials that President Hichilema was particularly interested in protecting the opposition because "he and the CCC leader are friends and church-mates."
"Dr Mumba also argued that Zimbabwe was ready for regime change and that the West had already put mechanisms in place to assist the opposition.
"Therefore, the opportunity was supposed to be seized to ensure that "Zanu-PF goes". Dr Mumba also told the EU officials that President Hichilema chose him after serious consultations with professionals including British academic Stephen Chan".
*On Monday we will reveal how the British academic Stephen Chan was used to try and influence the SADC report, his links with the country's opposition and some SADC leaders.
To disguise its regime change agenda, the EU recruited elements in the SADC region, in particular the SEOM which was led by Dr Nevers Mumba, a former vice president of Zambia, who was a willing tool of the Western world's devious agenda.
That agenda also included a coterie of local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) which were supposed to have a parallel voter tabulation process and set the agenda for a CCC win.
Information gleaned from several diplomatic sources reveals a chain of events that culminated in the production of harmonised statements between the EU Observer Mission, SEOM and other captured election observers.
Ultimately, the now hugely discredited SADC election report, on which the opposition is desperately seeking political resurrection, was predetermined and fitted a template that was designed and approved in Western capitals.
Its purported authorship by the SEOM was meant to give credence to the premeditated views of the West, which sought a back seat because of its prolonged and rather documented altercation with Zimbabwe.
From the day Dr Mumba arrived in Zimbabwe on August 16, to the day he read his Preliminary Report on August 25, he was receiving daily updates from the EU and getting advice from the Western observers and their local partners in the form of NGOs, the informed sources said.
"When he arrived in Zimbabwe on August 16, Dr Mumba immediately held meetings with the European Union Deputy Chief Observer Beata Martin – Rozumilowicz at the Holiday Inn in Harare, where he informed her that he wanted ‘Zanu-PF to go' and that SADC, through the observer mission he was chairing, was ‘to be used as a mouthpiece for the condemnation of the polls instead of the usual Western countries' observers whose statements are quickly dismissed due to the animosity that exists between Zimbabwe and the West," said the source.
Zimbabwe and the EU had been estranged for over two decades but the advent of the Second Republic saw a marked thawing of relations—with President Mnangagwa inviting the bloc to observe the country's elections both in 2018 and 2023.
But beyond its pretensions of engaging Zimbabwe, the EU was seemingly determined to undermine that goodwill as it managed to capture Dr Mumba and feed him with its preconceived report on elections, incredulously seven days before the polls.
"This is why Mumba had a position on the election's freeness, fairness and credibility even before he had observed the polls, he was just a willing tool of the West and he abused his position to push for an agenda that was made in Europe."
Present in the meeting that Dr Mumba had with EU at the Holiday Inn were Messrs Rozumilowicz, Marie D'arenberg (EU deputy Observers Co-ordinator), Stefan SZWED (Political analyst), Marcel Castels (EU elections analyst), and Ivaylo Pentchev (EU Media analyst).
There was shared hatred for Zanu-PF between Dr Mumba and the EU, with the former revealing that the EU position was of mutual interest with his President Hakainde Hichilema.
"Dr Mumba told the EU delegation that he had the blessings of the SADC Troika chairperson, President Hichilema Hakainde, whom he claimed, had "instructed him to make sure that the opposition's interests were not ignored".
Dr Mumba told the EU officials that President Hichilema was particularly interested in protecting the opposition because "he and the CCC leader are friends and church-mates."
"Dr Mumba also argued that Zimbabwe was ready for regime change and that the West had already put mechanisms in place to assist the opposition.
"Therefore, the opportunity was supposed to be seized to ensure that "Zanu-PF goes". Dr Mumba also told the EU officials that President Hichilema chose him after serious consultations with professionals including British academic Stephen Chan".
*On Monday we will reveal how the British academic Stephen Chan was used to try and influence the SADC report, his links with the country's opposition and some SADC leaders.
Source - The Chronicle
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