The Sunday Mail
Danny Musukuma
It is sad to find that in this globalised age of our society, there is still a human specie that can talk, let alone think about colonising another nation.
Speaking in the British House of Lords, last Tuesday, independent cross-bench peer Lord Palmer asked, “Has the minister even considered the idea of recolonising Zimbabwe? It is tragic to see what is going on.”
While we are aware of the existence of “Long colonialism” it was indeed a shock that anyone in his sane mind would ever contemplate subjugating a sovereign nation in this century long after the dismantling of colonialism and slavery.
It is even more nauseating if that is coming from a first world society that claims to be a champion of democracy.
The justification for such inferences lacks balance and rationality; let alone reason, common sense and logic.
The reaction by the British lawmakers against the scale of recent disturbances in the country which were orchestrated by the ZCTU, MDC Alliance and other regime change forces resulting in the sad loss of lives and property, is disproportionate, if measured against their reaction to more serious incidents elsewhere in the world.
The Xenophobic attacks which occurred in South Africa in the recent years and most significantly, the Marikana incident in 2016, where more than 30 mine workers were shot and lost their lives in the hands of the police, did not receive such reaction and attention as is being directed towards Zimbabwe.
Therefore, it can only be correct to suggest that utterances by British Lord Palmer are associated with medieval colonial mind sets from which he should be retrieved.
Instead of concentrating on the internal affairs of a sovereign State, the British Lawmaker should rather assign efforts and attention towards resolving foreseeable immense challenges confronting his country around the Brexit crisis.
If anything, Britain needs resource-rich Zimbabwe now than at any other time in the past.
Palmer and the like-minded world should be reminded that Zimbabwe is a sovereign State with a fully functional Constitution and firm democratic pillars insitu through which governance is exercised and, that ought to be respected by all.
It is equally in the great interest of Britain to take advantage of the very honest and colossal re-engagement initiative being pursued by the Government under the stewardship of President Mnangagwa so as to benefit from Zimbabwe’s abundant world-class natural resource endowment.
However, in light of hostile attitudes displayed by some potential global re-engagement partners, Government should consider ascertaining the efficacy of the re-engagement policy and come up with a comprehensive review program clearly setting out implementation timeframes, with specificity and exactitude.
Re-engagement cannot be an infinite exercise hence there ought to be a timeframe within which the re-engagement partners should attest to sincerity and demonstrate beyond question their desire for fruitful outcomes on the basis of mutual respect between both parties.
The world should consider Zimbabwe’s genuine quest to be part of the commonwealth group especially given proven commitment towards implementing global national reforms.
Cde Danny Musukuma is Zanu PF Information and Publicity director
