Weed out commercial protestors

AT a time when the country is grappling with a global pandemic and its devastating impact on lives and livelihoods, the opposition and its allies are planning a demonstration to topple a constitutionally elected Government.

As Covid-19 cases gallop past 2 000 in Zimbabwe, with more than half the patients infected within the country, opposition officials are determined to throw all caution to the wind and put the lives of the public at risk.

The appetite for protests at a time when we should be channelling all our energy towards containing Covid-19 as well as building our economy is totally abhorrent, uncalled for and against the letter and spirit of a peaceful Zimbabwe.

The motive of the protests at a time when laid down rules to contain the virus clearly prohibits large gatherings remain murky.

But looking closely as events unfold, there is a disturbing trend.

These kind of protests, their ubiquity and frequency, is sufficient to denote a structural shift in how people are now confronting power, as well as the motives behind the skirmishes.

There is a new wave of protests, not only on our African shores, but throughout the whole world, which are commercial in nature.

There is no singular leader in these type of protests, think of yesteryear’s Tajamuka. The protests were organised by an ad-hoc collection of groups who coordinated demonstrations over social media and by word of mouth.

The same thing is happening with the July 31 protests.

While Transform Zimbabwe leader Mr Jacob Ngarivhume is spearheading the idea, it is now being propelled by the MDC Alliance and other dubious elements, with Mr Ngarivhume at one time complaining that some people were trying to ‘hijack’ his initiative.

Could this actually be Mr Ngarivhume’s money-making plot that has been ‘hijacked’ by his colleagues?

By the way, most of these questionable protestors from across the world, Zimbabwe included, are targeting to overthrow elected governments from power. The protestors have not been shy in revealing that.

The July 31 movement therefore hopes that President Emerson Mnangagwa will be ousted from office on the day.

Fortunately, the 31st protests will be yet another failure that won’t yield the desired result of regime change.

Over the last couple of months, opposition groups have been provoking security agencies with a series of protests with the ultimate objective of unleashing terror and mayhem to precipitate the unconstitutional removal of a legitimately elected Government.

Numerous fake abductions have also been choreographed in an effort to draw the attention of the international community, with Zimbabwe being accused of trampling upon human rights.

For some time now, the country has been in protest mode and the architects of the demonstrations appear to be testing the waters to see how far they can go with their machinations.

Well, the authorities need to end the culture of lawlessness and impunity which seems to be taking root in the country. Zimbabwe cannot be allowed to descend into anarchy.

Whenever the line is crossed, the law must be applied to anyone found on its wrong side.

The few Zimbabweans — the commercial protestors — who are being paid to destroy their country, must ponder the ramifications of their actions and reconsider.

The best way to resolve the country’s problems is through dialogue, not protests, violence and pointing fingers at each other for everything that goes wrong.

To that end, Government stands ready to engage willing Zimbabweans on any issues affecting the country. We need to make use of the various avenues to reach out to Government.

After all, we have a listening President.