While agents of imperialism have been around since independence, and have been overly active at least twice, in 2008 and again in 2017 in the history of Zimbabwe, the present situation is largely self-inflicted.
I was taking a break in Egypt when I overheard the following discussion.
When Mohamed Morsi became president of Egypt 2011-2012, the British M16 and the US intelligence agency were apprehensive about his Islamic trajectory.
They hired 350 journalists to write bad words about Morsi.
Within six months, Morsi turned into the worst dictator ever and the people of Egypt were crying for redemption.
All this was cooked up. Similar accusations were being cooked up against Libya’s Muamar Khaddafi. US President Barak Obama approved of their overthrow.
Khaddafi and Morsi were pursuing independent policies away from the exploitation of sovereign resources by western powers.
Culturally, the two leaders embraced their Islamic heritage as a source of aspiration for their peoples rather than the individualistic capitalistic western ethos.
The main issue was the attitude towards sovereign resources.
Globalists believe that world resources are there to do as they please and that natives found in countries with those resources are enemies to be wiped out or subjected to birth control.
Zimbabwe drew their hostile attention in 2000 when the president Robert Mugabe drove away white farmers.
Britain and the US supported the Movement for Democratic Change through Freedom House and the second front came through civil society activists like professor Lovemore Madhuku, Crisis Zimbabwe and through religious organizations.
This plan failed because South African president Thabo Mbeki feared that its success would be a precursor to a similar overthrow of the African National Congress in South Africa.
Mbeki also had a contemptuous attitude towards Morgan Tsvangirayi, whom he regarded as unschooled and naïve towards imperialists.
Leopards don’t change their colours.
President Emerson Mnangagwa is facing a very serious challenge from the same forces Mugabe faced in 2008-this time with a compromised South African leadership.
As early as December 2023, I began to see increased “chatter” on the YouTube websites about oppression in Zimbabwe.
Perhaps by a Freudian slip, Eddie Cross said that under Mugabe, human disappearances averaged one a day.
The death of Moreblessing Ali and the abduction of Pastor Tapfumaneyi Masaya in Mabvuku and Jeffrey Kalosi, the imprisonment of Job Sikhala in a dirty jailhouse for 595 days and the lock up of James Timba and 160 activists were only the tip of an iceberg.
Brother Jacob Ngarivhume has been locked up for “planning a protest” according to the Zimbabwe police.
I am surprised that a citizen can be locked up for thinking.
Further, I am surprised that people can be locked up for more than 48 hours without the approval of a magistrate.
All these abuses are not new, whether in the second republic or in Mugabe’s republic. Nor have the imperialists changed their colours either.
The original sin, the oppression of white farmers has not been solved. Secondly, Mukuru, rather than impress upon the nation the notion of sovereign wealth, has tilted towards the Chinese in the exploitation of those minerals.
With three million Zimbabweans abroad, the vast mineral wealth of the country means nothing to them.
Mukuru has failed dismally to showcase his success, whether the restoration of the highway network, nor the increase in foreign investment. It seems none of his successes has made a dent in unemployment, which remains above 80%.
Manipulation of elections is not new. ZANU-PF has not won a clean election since year 2 000.
These failures are by themselves not fatal if the economy was alleviating unemployment.
Neither Zanu PF nor the imperialists have changed.
Brother Chris Mustvangwa.
The idiom, which reads as follows: “He who represents himself as a foll for a client” is attributed to US president Abraham Lincoln.
For Zanu PF to hire this brother as its spokesperson is to make the organization look very foolish. It is not that the brother has no knowledge, but that as a lexicographer (a student of the meaning of words) too much learning doth make him mad.
I watched his press statement on the 10th of August which lasted for 1hour 20 minutes. To discern what his message was about requires much prayer and supplication.
Apparently, he did not have notes and therefore was everywhere except where he should have been.
I discerned three themes. As the Southern African Development Conference heads of state gather in Harare, Zanu PF regarded a protest march as an embarrassment.
Chris wanted to show case Manhizhe Steelworks as a super achievement of Zanu PF industrialisation policy.
Surely the best way to avoid embarrassment by protesters is to provide police protection for the marchers and drinking water stations along the way.
If the government were to provide ice cream parlours or Mazowe Orange Crush drinks along the way, and allow the marchers to present a petition, the marchers would look very foolish.
I saw this in Jamaica-though ice cream was for sale.
While it is possible that the “web-site chatter” against Zanu PF has tripled on the internet, the hands of the American intelligence and the British are not obvious.
Gambakwe Media has survived for 13 years and has an audience of 1.3 million. Chatufa TV says that it is a prophetic outfit, guided by the Holy Spirit.
Its penetration is less than 200 000 subscribers. A brother by the name of Killian TV says that he is somebody even in Jerusalem.
Then there is Rumbi Uncensored. The penetration is undetermined, though she too, says that she is somebody.
The human rights organisations and the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe are serious organizations. The later only accepts guidance from the Holy Spirit.
My conclusion is that while Internet chatter has increased three-fold since December 2023, US and British influence is minimal.
Most of the harm is self-inflicted by refusing to acknowledge the issues that must be addressed.
*Ken Mufuka is a Zimbabwean patriot. He writes from the US. He can be reached at mufukaken@gmail.com