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Ranga Mataire, Group Political Editor

In a shameless show of puppetry, some opposition political activists and officials travelled to the United States during the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to organise anti-Zimbabwe protests and spew vitriol against the Government.

So shameful was the trip that it had to come at a time in the history of UNGA when eleven African Heads of State including the African Union chairperson, President Mack Sall of Senegal, unanimously implored the US to lift sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

First, we had Evan Mawarire, that infamous imposter, having the nerve to announce that he had met US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on September 19, 2022.

 

Writing on his Facebook page, Mawarire told us that he had briefed the Americans about the “suppression of freedom in Zimbabwe. Discussed draconian laws that are in the process of being passed such as the PVO & Patriotic Bills, which monitor and restrict NGO space and criminalise Zimbabwean citizens from meeting with foreign government officials respectively.”

We won’t talk about him being the only black person in a room full of Caucasians spewing venom against own country to a group of white officials with askance creased faces. Let’s talk about what he said.

For starters, wasn’t it ironic to him that he was talking about Zimbabwe’s ‘Patriotic Bills’ to an audience with a known history of crafting similar if not more draconian laws to protect American interests? If powerful countries like the United States could craft laws to protect their sovereignty and security, I think no one can fault Zimbabwe- a fairly young nation for doing the same. What’s good for the goose must surely be good for the gander.

America also criminalises foreign funding of political organisations. All the hullabaloo about President Donald Trump’s election was centred on the suspicion that he had received funding from foreign governments or organisations.

The US’s Federal Law prohibits contributions, donations, expenditures (including independent expenditures) and disbursements solicited, directed, received or made directly or indirectly by or from foreign nationals in connection with any federal state or local election.

So the US, the sole world superpower, has laws to protect its electoral field including banning foreign funding but the same is regarded as an anathema to a young democracy like ours that has been under siege from regime change agents?

What is sad is that Mawarire could be very much aware of Zimbabwe’s vulnerability but cares more about lining his pocket. He is more motivated by self-interests and getting some trinkets from his handlers.

After Mawarire, we had the excitable Gift Ostalos Siziba, a political rookie from the University of Zimbabwe, dispatched by Nelson Chamisa to the United States to coordinate anti-Zimbabwe protests and market the opposition party to some interested bidders.

It was a shoddy display of political immaturity and puppetry as the impressionable Siziba posted on his Twitter handle how happy he was to have landed in New York. He was not done yet. The young political novice claimed he was a guest speaker at some university event. From the look of it and judging by the facial expressions of his hosts, it was clear they were far from being impressed by his presentation.  

He was probably so intoxicated with excitement that he failed to convince his benefactors that his party could do their bidding in Zimbabwe. Despite his lacklustre performance, Ostalos was eager to share with the world his greatest moment and posted on his Twitter handle that he had “just finished delivering a keynote address at the University of Oklahoma.” Typical of a political midget in borrowed robes, Ostalos tried to accord the embarrassing jaunt some veneer of credibility by claiming that his presence was about “robust regional and international engagement.”

I am lost for words how an address at a University with sullen white faces can be termed a regional or international engagement.

What is evident from Ostalos’s jaunt is what everyone has always known since the birth of the MDC in 1999. As an offshoot of the MDC, the CCC is a Western political project, now on a crusade to convince its stockholders that they are the legitimate entity and therefore deserve the lion’s share of the financial help.

Indeed, as someone said, there has never been a doubt as to the true owners of this project. It is incumbent upon all Zimbabweans to denounce it and refuse to be part of a puppetry charade meant to entrench Western hegemony over our nation’s affairs.

We must resist the temptation of extending the boundaries of what is right and wrong. What is wrong is wrong.  It is wrong for a Zimbabwean party to unashamedly acquiesce itself to foreign interests- to countries that have a history of having undermined our humanity, our freedom and our independence.

Nobody has automatic deference to ascending to power. Journalists need to interrogate the character and calibre of those aspiring to lead us. We need to discard that carefulness that too closely resembles a lack of conviction.

The coming elections are not a simple ‘voting story’. It is a story about our existence and the legacy we want to bequeath to future generations. Now is not the time to tiptoe around historical references of individuals who have collaborated with imperial forces to undermine our freedom.

We must counter lies with facts, repeatedly and unflaggingly, while also proclaiming the greater truths: of our equal humanity, of decency, of compassion. Any political party that masquerades as a citizens’ movement yet brazenly and publicly fraternises with neo-colonial forces is a danger to any country.  

We must refuse to draw false equivalences between State engagement and a puppet party’s eagerness to draw back the liberation map.

An ugly idea left unchallenged begins to turn the colour of normal. It does not have to be like this.