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Nduduzo Tshuma, Political Editor
ZANU-PF party yesterday warned US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Brian Nichols against engaging in acts of insurgency as he risks expulsion from the country while calling on Zimbabweans to shun the planned July 31 illegal demonstrations.

The MDC Alliance and its surrogate organisations working with some Western embassies including the United States have set July 31 to hold illegal and violent demonstrations disguised as protests against corruption.

The real agenda of the illegal action in the middle of a national lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19 has been touted as a subversive plot to overthrow the democratically elected Government.

In a Press conference at the Zanu-PF headquarters in Harare yesterday, party acting spokesperson Cde Patrick Chinamasa said the attempts by Mr Nichols to push regime change will fail just as it did when his predecessor Mr Christopher Dell tried before.

Cde Chinamasa, who was flanked by secretary for war veterans ex detainees and ex-restrictees Cde Douglas Mahiya, secretary for indigenisation and economic empowerment Cde Mike Bimha and acting youth affairs secretary Cde Tendai Chirau, said it was high time Mr Nichols and his ilk realised that Zimbabwe is a sovereign Republic and full State under the Montevideo Convention.

“The US Ambassador, who I am told is African American, must be ashamed of himself, what has the United States to offer by way of values and human rights observance when his own African American people are treated like rats in full view of the world media and he remains an Uncle Tom used by the establishment to propagate values which they themselves don’t practice on their own people,” said Cde Chinamasa.

He said it was a shame that Mr Nichols has chosen to act against the interests of his people despite the ill-treatment of black people even in the United States.

“If he continues to engage in acts of undermining this Republic, mobilising and funding disturbances, coordinating violence and training insurgency, our leadership will not hesitate to give him marching orders.

“Diplomats should not behave like thugs and Brian Nichols is a thug. We remind Mr Nichols that he is not a super diplomat in this country. There are several diplomats that are seconded to this Republic from the African Union member countries and the world over,” said Cde Chinamasa.

“They have never masqueraded and pretended to be our prefects as Mr Nichols is doing. We have nothing to learn from the United States or those countries that imposed sanctions on us. They are no respecter of human rights, human rights are just a pretext to oppress less powerful countries.”

Cde Chinamasa said the party would not tolerate any manoeuvres to undermine the gains of the liberation struggle.

“Zimbabwe is not one of the States or provinces that makes the USA. We fought for this country to preserve it and protect it, not to surrender it to those from whom we tirelessly fought against. Never ever in our lifetime. I think Brian Nichols should learn from his predecessor Christopher Dell, he tried it and he realised later that his shoes were too big for him,” he said.

Cde Chinamasa said the stern warning against Mr Nichols did not necessarily translate a breakdown of the government’s engagement process but in the process of engagement, parties are allowed to point out where the other is doing wrong.

He said the opposition and their handlers had buried their heads in the sand to the arrests by police of prominent figures arrested for alleged involvement in corrupt activities and also their own officials involved in graft in local authorities.

“As the Ruling Party, Zanu-PF advises our people to shy away from being misled onto a deadly path by merchants of death who have no interest in the safety and security of our people and regrettably, those who have no interest in the general welfare of our people,” said Cde Chinamasa.

He said the MDC Alliance’s agenda was to hurt the economy through besmirching the country’s image by staging fake human rights abuses.

“If the violent activities perpetrated by the MDC opposition were acts done in Europe or the United States of America they would have been branded a terrorist organisation which in fact is what they are, along with their Trojan horses like the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and others which depend on foreign funding to promote their anti-people activities,” said Cde Chinamasa.

“The MDC is seeking to win and gain through violence what they failed to win through elections. They hope that the fake news which they are spewing out on social media will sway the population in the direction of destruction of their own country. Never and never again.”