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Political Editor Nduduzo Tshuma
THE One Million Man March being held in solidarity with President Robert Mugabe in Harare tomorrow will silence the country’s detractors engaged in a number of campaigns in a bid to demonise the ruling Zanu-PF government.

The march, carefully scheduled to coincide with the Africa Day commemorations, is set to prove to the architects of the infamous #ThisFlag campaign and the MDC-T planned demonstrations in Bulawayo at the weekend that the majority of Zimbabweans are firmly behind President Mugabe’s leadership.

The two campaigns, organised by a pastor by the name Evans Mawarire and the other by MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai, are part of a Western sponsored project bent on negatively projecting the country and government.

There is uncertainty over the Bulawayo MDC-T demos with questions as to whether its leader Morgan Tsvangirai will be able to “lead from the front” amid reports that he was flown to South Africa for treatment of a yet to be established ailment.

Tomorrow, party members and Zimbabwean citizens will from different locations within the capital make a procession to the Robert Mugabe Square at 9AM to reaffirm the President’s support.

A widely agreed fact in politics which neither Evans Mawarire nor MDC-T leader Tsvangirai can deny is that politics is a game of numbers and therefore the numbers in Harare will prove why Zanu-PF has remained a party of choice since the country’s Independence in 1980.

Zanu-PF deputy secretary for youth affairs Cde Kudzanai Chipanga, who declined to comment on the #ThisFlag campaign saying it can only be unravelled by psychiatrists, said the party’s numbers will prove that President Mugabe is the people’s choice.

“I wouldn’t want to comment on the people behind the flag campaign, we don’t just comment on issues that need specialists.

‘‘It would be unfair to comment on people in need of psychiatrist attention,” he said.

On Tsvangirai, Cde Chipanga said the MDC-T rallies were welcome as the people would get to experience which of the parties commands the largest following in the country.

“Those MDC-T demos will always be a desperate attempt for relevance.

‘‘The person fronting those demonstrations is a tried and tested failure so we’re really not worried about them as they’ve no impact at all.

‘‘The people will be able to see for themselves the numbers,” he said.

“The Harare demonstrations attracted a small number of people and the Bulawayo version is likely to be worse.

‘‘Tsvangirai is headed for a monumental embarrassment and the people are there to judge for themselves.”

Cde Chipanga said it wasn’t an accident that Zanu-PF, led by President Mugabe, resoundingly won the 2013 harmonised elections and continues to bag by elections that have followed ever since.

He attributed the 2013 poll victory, that left all opposition parties in chaos leading to serious infighting and splits, and the continued bagging of seats by Zanu PF, to its pro-people policies which made it easier for the majority of Zimbabweans to identify with the ruling party.

The coincidence of the One Million Man March with Africa Day, according to Cde Chipanga, is in recognition of the status of President Mugabe that has elevated the Zimbabwean Head of State to that of a continental leader.

The President has stood firm against Western powers’ interference with the running of African states in their pursuit of a neo-colonialist agenda, a stance that has won him the hearts and respect of Africans.

Part of the challenges still facing the continent as Africa Day is commemorated tomorrow is the meddlesome politics of the West in African states as they seek to dictate to sovereign nations how they should manage their affairs.

The meddling has come via different avenues like sponsoring puppet political parties to effect regime change in African countries as the West seeks to protect their vested interests in the nations.

The other avenue has been through trade partnerships that seek to extend to tampering with the sovereignty of the African countries.

The most hurtful injustice particularly against Zimbabwe has been the imposition of illegal sanctions as a punitive measure after the country embarked on a land reform programme to correct the racist colonial legacy that gave land to the white minority while the blacks remained either landless or in possession of barren land.

However, due to the resilience of the political leadership of the Zanu-PF government, the intended goal of the sanctions – to effect regime change – has dismally failed as the majority of Zimbabweans have refused to be separated from President Mugabe.

Addressing delegates at Fort Hare University’s centenary celebrations in Alice, South Africa, at the weekend where he received a standing ovation upon his grand entrance into the main hall as well as when he was invited to address the gathering, President Mugabe said the West continued to meddle in African affairs through NGOs funded by France, Britain and the US.

“It’s been a long struggle to prove that we’re also equal people and that we’re also human beings. Besides all our efforts, the West still continues to try to run our affairs in Africa.

‘‘Francophone and Anglophone continue to try to undermine our systems.

‘‘Thousands of NGOs supported by France, Britain and America are there, with America openly saying they can change regimes.

“In Zimbabwe, they said they’ll have regime change, and I said never.

‘‘I’m stuck there because I want to prevent regime change,” said President Mugabe to wild applause from the delegates.

The MDC, formed in the late 1990s to execute the Western objective, has disintegrated over the years, first with the breakaway of the Professor Welshman Ncube-led grouping in 2005 and then the Tendai Biti-led group in 2014.

What remained of the Morgan Tsvangirai-led party has been a theatre of factional fights, violence and a breach of constitutional provisions to target fellow party members and to ensure Tsvangirai’s continued stay at the helm of the opposition party.

It is no surprise therefore that President Mugabe has become the symbol of African resistance to the Western neo-colonialist agenda as he has over the years been the only brave voice speaking against attempts to dictate the affairs of African countries.