The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporters
Western-sponsored opposition elements operating under the discredited #thisflag banner are plotting to instigate civil disturbances in rural Zimbabwe, The Sunday Mail has established. It emerged last week that after fronting sporadic violence in Harare and Bulawayo in early July, the same characters are targeting rural folk who largely support Zanu-PF.
United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Harry Thomas and his outgoing French sidekick, Ambassador Laurent Delahousse, have since been identified as the engineers of the violence targeted at destabilising the country and effecting regime change but dressed up as “pro-democracy” activism.
Their British counterpart, Mrs Catriona Laing, also figures in the mix following reports of night meetings she held with civil society representatives in Kariba last week.
Yesterday, Zanu-PF national political commissar Cde Saviour Kasukuwere laughed off the plan, saying it was dead in the water. Home Affairs Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo and his State Security counterpart, Minister Kembo Mohadi, were not immediately available for comment.
Information gathered by The Sunday Mail indicates the dodgy group was mobilising funds to provide 3G network coverage to rural communities and then purchase and distribute hi-tech cellphones to transmit anti-Government messages in those areas.
Most of the campaigns will be disguised as a voter registration drive ahead of the 2018 harmonised elections.
The characters confirmed as much in a recent post on #thisflag’s website in which they complained about their propaganda being ineffective due to inefficient gadgets.
One post reads, “Zimbabwe has some of the best 3G cellular coverage in Africa, so social media works from just about anywhere in the country, and our rural people have the ingenuity to solve problems such as phone charging and finding a good signal.” Save Zimbabwe Campaign — a grouping of opposition elements with MDC-T links — is also fundraising for more violence in the country.
Its appeal on social media site Facebook reads: “We need financial support to keep the protest demonstrations alive by providing transport …”
