Zanu PF threatens terror – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary

Source: Zanu PF threatens terror – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary: 21st May 2022

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Zanu PF’s strategy to win next year’s general election, despite the government’s abject failure to fix the economy and save the poor from starving, has been exposed by the paranoid ravings of the party’s Secretary for Finance, Patrick Chinamasa.

Basically he warned that Zanu PF would not leave office without bringing the whole country down with them. Chinamasa bluntly claimed that voting for the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change would bring war and instability to the country. He said the CCC leader Nelson Chamisa and deputy Tendai Biti were working for the American Central Intelligence Agency which, he claimed, was preparing to establish a military base in Zimbabwe.

‘Chamisa and Biti and all the USA sponsored NGOs USA sponsored so-called Civil Society Organizations, USA sponsored so-called Human Rights Organizations and USA sponsored Social Media Trolls are the USA Change Agents and force multipliers to remove Liberation Movement Parties from power so as to establish AFRICOM Military Bases on our African Continent and in our SADC region and country, the objective being to establish neocolonial states which are amenable to exploitation.’ (See: https://news.pindula.co.zw/2022/05/16/voting-for-ccc-will-bring-war-instability-to-zimbabwe-says-chinamasa/.)

The Zimbabwe Peace Project blames Zanu PF for the majority of human rights violations. In a report titled ‘The Wall’ it speaks of Zanu PF torture camps being set up in rural areas to crush dissent. It says Zanu PF supporters were hounding people they suspected of supporting the CCC in the 26^th March by-elections.

Zanu PF’s director of information Tafadzwa Mugwadi dismissed the report, saying ‘We don’t respond to lies deliberately cooked by desperate donor-driven outfits led by laptop activists such as Jestina Mukoko. Who needs schooling on what ZPP and its scandalous activists stand for in Zimbabwe’s political market? Zanu PF actually holds ZPP and Jestina Mukoko responsible for the sporadic needless orgies of violence that she hatches working with paid opposition activists targeting security officers, government buildings, businesses and individual citizens.’ He concluded: ‘Zanu PF as an organisation is a party of peace-loving doves.’ (See: https://www.newsday.co.zw/2022/05/zpp-report-exposes-zanu-pf-violence/.)

The European Union doesn’t seem convinced that Zanu PF are peace-loving doves judging by Friday’s remarks by the head of the EU electoral mission, Elmar Brok. Speaking to the Voice of America, he said Zimbabwe must amend its electoral laws so that all parties have a chance a winning at the polls. Brok spoke of the need for a level playing field, with impartiality of the media, equal treatment of the parties, a proper voters’ registration and transparency to give the election credibility (see: https://www.voanews.com/a/eu-calls-for-zimbabwe-to-implement-electoral-reforms-ahead-of-2023-polls-/6582152.html).

Other points

• Zimbabwe is demanding to be allowed to sell its stockpile of 135 tonnes of ivory and rhino horn to fund conservation. The stockpile, seized over the years from smugglers and poachers or harvested from carcasses found in national parks, would raise as much as £500 million, the government said. At the moment trade in ivory is banned under an international agreement but the head of the parks and wildlife agency Fulton Mangwanya said the elephants are multiplying at a dangerous rate and may have to be culled (see: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/vigil-news/campaign-news/1218-zimbabwe-wants-to-sell-ivory-stash-to-fund-elephant-conservation.)
• One of the claimants to be king of the Ndebele, Stanley Raphael Khumalo, says he is to lead a peaceful crusade of his people ‘suffering in South Africa’ to take over Bulawayo’s State House and revive the kingdom in the Matabeleland region this month (see: https://www.newsday.co.zw/2022/05/ndebele-king-threatens-to-invade-state-house/).
• Vigil activist Deborah Harry has written a piece on the need for electoral reforms in Zimbabwe, check: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/vigil-news/campaign-news/1219-next-step-electoral-reforms-.
• The Vigil met outside the Embassy today. For the moment we are meeting on the 1^st and 3^rd Saturdays of the month. There will be a virtual Vigil on the other Saturdays. Thanks to those who came today: Enniah Dube, Delice Gavazah, Simbarashe Jingo, Jonathan Kariwo, Chido Makawa, Charles Mararirakwenda, Richard Munyama, Esther Munyira, Patrick Nyamwanza, Ephraim Tapa and Rose Benton. For photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/albums/72177720299159468.
• For Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website.

Events and Notices:

• Next Vigil meeting outside the Zimbabwe  Embassy. Saturday 4^th June from 2 – 5 pm. We will continue meeting on the first and third Saturdays of every month. On other Saturdays we will continue the virtual Vigil.
• ROHR Fundraising Walk for a Free, Fair and Credible Election in Zimbabwe. Saturday 18^th June. ROHR UK chapter will embark on a 13-mile sponsored walk staring at Leytonstone and ending at the Vigil, to raise funds for voter registration mobilisation and education to ensure all eligible citizens exercise their right to vote without fear or manipulation.

• Next ROHR Meeting. Saturday 2^nd July at 11 am.
• The Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents us.
• The Vigil’s book ‘Zimbabwe Emergency’ is based on our weekly diaries. It records how events in Zimbabwe have unfolded as seen by the diaspora in the UK. It chronicles the economic disintegration, violence, growing oppression and political manoeuvring – and the tragic human cost involved. It is available at the Vigil. All proceeds go to the Vigil and our sister organisation the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe’s work in Zimbabwe. The book is also available from Amazon.
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