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President Mugabe

PRESIDENT Mugabe has called for unity and peace among Zimbabweans, saying violent protest being engineered by opposition parties and shadowy groups to subvert the Government would fail. Addressing thousands of people gathered at the National Heroes’ Acre to celebrate Heroes’ Day, President Mugabe said a constitutionally-elected Government could only be removed through democratic elections not Arab spring type of protests. He said while it was everyone’s constitutional right to hold demonstrations, they should be done in a peaceful manner. “Let us remain united in defence of our sovereignty, in defence of what our national heroes fought for,” President Mugabe said.

“We should remain united, remain cognisant of the fact that without unity we cannot make much progress. There will be divisions, quarrelling, fighting, violence and that is why things like protests don’t pay because usually they end up being violent protests. What benefit do you derive from conducting street protests only to show that you are violent? We don’t want that!”

He added: “If it is a police sanctioned demonstration, let it be done in a peaceful manner. If it is a political party seeking relevance and recognition, it is allowed but for them to stone people and property, it is not allowed. We don’t want that violence.

“Joining hands to foment chaos to effect regime change as is being done in some Arab countries will never be tolerated. Why not wait for elections.

You don’t want to wait for them. But that’s democracy! I heard Tsvangirai calling for a coalition to stage protests to topple the Government. That shows that the opposition have no confidence in their own electoral chances against Zanu-PF”.

President Mugabe’s remarks came in the wake of violent demonstrations being organised by shadowy groups such as Tajamuka/Sesijikile and

#This Flag fronted by Pastor Evan Mawarire The groups have been on a crusade to foment an uprising against the Government using social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter to spread subversive messages denigrating President Mugabe and calling for street protests.

It has also since emerged that the embassies of France, the United States and Britain are heavily involved in coordinating the anti-Government movement by providing logistical and financial support.

The Arab Spring uprisings were sponsored by the West to topple Governments which did not tow their line in countries such as Tunisia, Syria, Egypt and Libya. However, chaos reigns to this day in those states where the US and its allies sought to install puppet regimes.

Libya is a chaotic lawless jungle where rag tag militias roam the countryside. It is a pale shadow of its former orderly state where citizens lived a prosperous life under their late leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Tunisia is also not stable while Syria is engulfed in a never ending war and is a bastion of Muslim extremism with ISIS establishing itself firmly in that country.

The Arab Springs are therefore a perfect example of the chaos and lawlessness which visits nations that unseat democratically elected Governments and replace them with pliant and willing tools of the West.

Democracy can never be foisted on a people and nations should be allowed to determine their own internal electoral processes. Zimbabwe is a constitutional democracy and has held elections whenever they are due and without fail since independence in 1980.

Despite several attempts to topple the Government, the various arms of State have stood firm and valiantly defended the flag and the constitution of Zimbabwe. For that we tip our hats to them and urge them to continue protecting this country from its enemies. President Mugabe on Monday commended the country’s security sectors for maintaining law and order.

“When all is said and done, what is important is in our circumstances we have peace, law and  order and we praise our security forces for that,” he said.

“We praise them for the calm there has been, the peace there has been but we praise them also for fulfilling international obligations by subscribing members to both regional and international peace support operations. Thus, under the auspices of Sadc, African Union and United Nations our security forces continue to raise the Zimbabwean flag high.” We also applaud the country’s security arms for diligently maintaining peace in Zimbabwe despite their patience and resolve being stretched to the limit by subversive elements.

We urge them to stay true to the ideals of the liberation struggle and ensure that the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Zimbabwe is protected at all costs.

The country faces a new threat in the form of cyber terrorism and our security apparatus should be alive to this development and devise strategies of neutralising this form of aggression.

We also call on Zimbabweans to heed the President’s call for unity and peace and not allow foreigners to push them to burn down their own country.