adminFor a decade these so-called activists have been lying through their teeth in a bid to effect regime change or get Zimbabwe to be slapped with punitive sanctions by the West, which sponsors these groups. And for the past decade these anti-Zimbabwe elements have succeeded and some have even gone on to win awards for lying about their motherland.
The country is right now wobbling under the illegal economic sanctions imposed on it by the United Kingdom, the United States and their Western allies. The sanctions have crippled the economy and led to a deterioration of infrastructure in the social services sectors such as education and health. Right now Zimbabwe is having difficulties selling its diamonds mined in the Chiadzwa area in Marange, Manicaland province, because some non-governmental organisations and individuals go around the world lying that the diamonds are “blood” gems. If Zimbabwe sells the diamonds, there is risk the money from buyers will be intercepted or the buyers might not get their diamonds, which could also be intercepted by the United States.
At the moment Zimbabwe cannot access economic aid because the US under its economic embargo instructs all its citizens who sit on boards of multilateral lenders to oppose the granting of aid to Harare to choke all life out of Zimbabwe.
It is in this vein that we welcome Government’s decision to prosecute those who peddle falsehoods about the country. Attorney General Mr Johannes Tomana told a meeting to review the just-ended Zimbabwe Diamond Conference on Wednesday that Government would now invoke laws to enforce penalties.
Mr Tomana said the laws to prosecute the organisations and individuals were available but they had not been used. He said the era of such tolerance had passed. In fact Mr Attorney General such tolerance should have never been practised because while the State was tolerating them, these misguided groups were causing irreparable harm to the national interests of this country.
Mr Tomana pointed out that Zimbabwe had more than enough laws to protect the nation against all forms of violations against our interests. But Government, on its part, had been reluctant to fully enforce the laws as an act of benevolence. It is our belief that benevolence should only be extended to responsible citizens who value their country and its interests and not reckless miscreants bent on making money out of the suffering of masses.
Civil society organisations have been at the forefront of scuttling the selling of the Chiadzwa diamonds through dissemination of false claims. By so doing the civil society has been breaching the country’s laws willy-nilly under the guise of promoting democracy and good governance.
There should be a stop to all this recklessness and people should be held accountable for their actions. In the Western world, there are laws to protect countries’ national interests, which can either be economic or security related. Citizens of those countries can call their politicians all sorts of names over their shortcomings but will never go around preaching lies that hurt their economies or compromise security. The civil society’s onslaught has worsened with the discovery of the Chiadzwa diamonds and there is no reason or excuse to tolerate such behaviour or let it go unchecked.
This has been hurting the country because these groups have been mistaking Government’s benevolence as a sign of being unable to act. Recently the High Court permitted a local company Vakakora Capital (Pvt) Ltd to sue the Daily News and NewsDay for writing stories alleging there was political violence in the country. Vakakora argued that the reports published in May last year were false and discouraged a foreign investor from pursuing a partnership with the Zimbabwean firm, resulting in loss of business to the tune of $250 million.
The civil society organisations are always quick to refer to the rule of law when they criticise Government. So if the laws exist to deal with them, Government should invoke them without any regrets because it will simply be promoting the rule of law.
Online Reporter