We must all speak with one voice

AS Zimbabwe is on a mission to rebrand and improve relations with all nations, big or small, the Second Republic finds itself having to deal with elements in the opposition parties who are determined to make re-engagement efforts come to naught.

It is sad that instead of being patriotic, some Zimbabweans, in pursuit of parochial and selfish agendas, are busy besmirching the very country they are supposed to serve patriotically and defend from any form of foreign threats.

On Monday, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo, after a virtual meeting with the new British Minister of Africa Mr James Duddridge, made it patently clear that the re-branding of Zimbabwe is everyone’s responsibility, pointing out that everyone should be ready to play his or her part in order improve the country’s rebranding exercise.

However, contrary to the noble aspirations of the Second Republic, under the leadership of President Mnangagwa, who is seeking rapprochement with all nations after decades of isolation, misguided elements in the MDC-Alliance are apparently reading from a different script.

In a leaked letter that MDC-Alliance vice president Tendai Biti wrote to the World Bank Group president David Malpass on May 21 this year, the opposition official pleads without any vestiges of remorse, for the international lending institution not to extend any loan to the Government of Zimbabwe.

For the MDC, nothing good should come into Zimbabwe and only their choreographed cases of abductions and kidnappings should be used as the yardstick by the international community to gauge the country’s commitment towards rebranding.

This they do in order to pander to the whims and caprices of their handlers, who, notwithstanding that the world has begun to take notice and appreciate the goodwill oozing from the Second Republic.

The unpatriotic opposition, that has consistently pleaded with Western nations to maintain sanctions on Zimbabwe, would rather have people starve and die from the devastating impact of Covid19, than to let the country qualify for succour as has been the case with most countries worldwide that have received rescue packages without let or hindrance.

Zimbabwe, like the rest of the world is suffering from the effects of Covid-19, four of our beloved citizens have died, about 280 more have been confirmed to have the disease, Zimbabweans want to be included, instead of being excluded.

This is not time for grandstanding, this is time to speak with one voice and end the pandemic, which is the enemy.

The world is facing a global plague and according to the United Nations Framework for Immediate Socio- Economic Response to the Covid-19 crisis, the pandemic is far more than a health crisis, because it will affect societies and economies to their very core.

Of course the impact of the global pandemic, which has killed more than 400 000 people worldwide and has been confirmed in almost seven million persons, from country to country, will undoubtedly increase poverty and inequalities at a global scale, making it difficult to achieve Sustainable Development Goals that among other things seek to eliminate poverty, and enhance access to basics such as water.

Thus from Mr Biti’s letter to the World Bank, one can infer that the opposition is the albatross rock that is hanging on our necks, and that has consequently hindered Zimbabwe’s march towards acceptance among the family of nations.

This, the opposition, achieve through staging abductions, using female activists to invoke international anger and scorn against Zimbabwe and thus sully its well-meant, and good nurtured re-engagement efforts.

It is now common knowledge that the Second Republic under President Mnangagwa is seeking co-operation with all nations, and of course, it should be common cause that in order to achieve that, everyone should pull in one direction, yet, and sadly so, that is not the case.

Western imposed economic sanctions on Zimbabwe endure, thousands are jobless because of that sheer act of terror by the United States on a small nation like Zimbabwe, many more are going hungry because of the unjustified isolation of Zimbabwe, yet the opposition has never raised a finger.

When the very nations they regard as the models of democracy kill innocent civilians such as George Floyd who was killed in cold blood by a white police officer in the US, the opposition in Zimbabwe, unlike in other countries, doesn’t raise a finger, a stinking indictment that exposes that it is never about national interests, but rather a greedy pursuit for personal enrichment.

For close to two decades now, Zimbabwe, like Mr Floyd, has been crying that it cannot breathe because of the economic sanctions and for an equal number of years, the West has been aided and abetted by the opposition party in the country.

For years now, the MDC-Alliance has been a consistent threat to the country’s peace, it could be through dastardly acts of violence such as the burning of properties belonging to rival camps, or through secretly campaigning for the continuation of illegal sanctions on the country.

When an organisation is a constant threat to the peace and existence of a constitutionally-reposed government, when individuals in that organisation make it a habit of championing acts of terror that threaten the people in order to gain political power, and when the same organisation secretly campaigns for the ostracisation of Zimbabwe, that organisation certainly has interests that are divergent to the shared national vision.