Beware of divisive elements: Minister

Source: Beware of divisive elements: Minister | The Herald August 9, 2016

Innocent Ruwende Senior Reporter
Defence Minister Dr Sydney Sekeramayi has urged Zimbabweans to be wary of divisive elements who are taking advantage of the country’s economic challenges to push their regime change agenda.

In an interview ahead of the 36th Anniversary of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Day commemorations, Dr Sekeramayi said a recent communiqué calling on President Mugabe to step down which was disowned by the war veterans, was pointing to infiltration of the fifth column.

“When you have a document that nobody is honouring to have been the author of, you have to look at the other possibilities. If I author a document I should be able to sign it. When all of us say no, it is not our document then we have a problem. There can be infiltration which can be channelled through some people who may have grievances by our detractors.”

“As we have said, you sometimes get the fifth column coming in looking at the political environment knowing there are some problems. They then want to use those disagreements to further their own interest, regime change,” he said.

He said when there are contradictions people should sit and look at them and decide whether the contradictions are antagonistic or they are non-antagonistic adding that war veterans should be able to put their minds together and find out what the real problem is.

“How do we solve it successfully but amicably so that those areas which stress people, which make people agitated can be addressed to the satisfaction of everybody? No disciplined war veteran who really accepts that the President is Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces would author something like that,” he said.

He said Zimbabwe must be in a position to control its economy so that no one would be able impose economic sanctions on the country.

The Zimbabwean situation was fairly different from other Southern African countries, he said.

“We were fighting for our land. We had an agreement at that time with the Margaret Thatcher government when the Labour party got into power under Tony Blair. They reneged on all the agreements we had had with the previous government and the arrangement was that for whatever land we were going to buy for resettlement, we would contribute 50 percent apiece.”

“Tony Blair said we had an agreement with the Conservatives, so he was not going to honour that. When we took the land which we had been fighting for, they then decided to impose economic sanctions on us. And as you and all of us sit here today, the imposition of those economic sanctions has contributed very largely to the difficulties that our economy is facing,” he said.

He said before the sanctions from 1980 to about 1999 Zimbabwe was developing rapidly.

Dr Sekeramayi said ZDF and Heroes’ Day celebrations were not political.

“When you drive into the Heroes’ Acre, there is no gate which says which political party you belong to. People are free. People who want to come are free to come. It has never been said at any one of these commemorations that it’s for only political party X,” he said.

Attendance, he said, was not compulsory but Zimbabweans who appreciate the sacrifices made by the country’s heroes would attend.

Back to Home page