President Emmerson Mnangagwa says there is a foreign-funded scheme to spread misinformation and falsehoods about Zimbabwe.
In a speech during the burial of former ZIPRA commander and national hero Makhethi Ndebele on Monday, August 05, Mnangagwa claimed this concerted effort to tarnish the country’s image is part of an “imperialistic agenda” aimed at reversing the gains of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle. He said:
Presently, there are concerted efforts to reverse the gains of our protracted liberation struggle. These attacks take many forms, including peddling falsehoods about our country.
It is a shame that there is a deliberate and foreign-funded campaign which is devoid of the evidence against unprecedented success milestones we are witnessing across every facet of society and the economy.
We shall never be deterred or discouraged. We are marching forward ever, backwards never.
Mnangagwa’s comments come amid criticism of his government’s crackdown on pro-democracy activists ahead of the upcoming Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit on August 17.
Over 100 activists are currently imprisoned, with some alleging severe torture, on charges such as participating in unlawful gatherings and disorderly conduct.
Mnangagwa also accused unnamed foreign powers of trying to sow discord and division across the African continent and the SADC region. He said:
The strategies by some powers designed to sow discord and division between fraternal States in our region and on our continent will never succeed.
We defeated imperialistic agendas to achieve our liberation and independence. We shall defeat them in the present, again and again.
Their interests are never designed for Africa and its people, but to control our strategic resource endowments, including our God-given minerals, which we have in abundance.
Wherever their nefarious machinations show their ugly face, these shall be resisted, both in honour of our heroes and for the economic prosperity, peace and stability for present as well as future generations.
On our part as Zimbabwe, we remain deeply-rooted in our diplomatic mantra that “Zimbabwe is a friend to all and an enemy to none”.
The United States embassy in Harare, the Embassy, and the European Union have all condemned the arrest and torture Of political activists perceived to be planning protests during the SADC summit.
More: Pindula News