(HERALD) Scramble for British regime change funds

Scramble for British regime change funds
Sunday, 19 June 2011 00:23 Top Stories
By Munyaradzi Huni

THE British government has released a staggering three million pounds to fund the so-called independent media in the country for it to team up with civil society organisations to mount an unprecedented propaganda war against President Mugabe, Zanu-PF and some State institutions, it has been established.

This revelation comes hot on the heels of what the British government and its US and EU allies believe are encouraging examples of media and civil society-driven so-called spring revolutions in North Africa where twitter and facebook supported by the global media are said to have ruled the roost.

Official documents obtained by The Sunday Mail this week show that the British government has allocated a total of £4,5 million to the Department for International Development (DFID) allegedly to “strengthen accountable governance” in Zimbabwe by “supporting civil society organisations and media actors” to influence the conduct and results of the forthcoming harmonised elections.

The programme, which is detailed in a document obtained by The Sunday Mail, was first mooted in February when the original terms of reference of the British tender were outlined in a circular identified as “OJEU tender doc: ToRs”.

Now fully under way, the programme runs from April 2011 to September 30 2013.
Three millions pounds have been set aside to cover this period while an additional £1,5 million will be released between April 2012 and March 2013.

According to the British government, the range of activities being funded include but are not limited to “violence monitoring and reporting, civil and voter education, independent print media and independent broadcast media”.

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Already, funding has been made to some so-called independent media houses and journalists (names supplied) some of whom have started churning out sensational, alarmist, scandalous and false stories about the political and security situation in Zimbabwe with an unmistakable thrust to inflame and influence electoral opinion.

Some of the media and so-called civil society elements participating in the British programme were visible in Sandton, South Africa, last week before, during and after the Extraordinary Sadc Summit on Zimbabwe.

Their activities, which are consistent with the DFID blueprint, included organising seminars on elections based on issues such as the much-talked-about security sector reforms and Press conferences which were, in fact, political seminars agitating for elections in 2012 or 2013 in conformity with the £4,5 million funding circle authorised by the British government.

A concerned NGO activist who is intimately familiar with this British project who has participated in its launch activities told The Sunday Mail that he is one out of a number of already disgruntled participants who are unhappy about what he said is the apparent scramble for cash by some editors in the so-called independent media who are elbowing out their own reporters by positioning themselves “in front of the till” to write stories that are fictitious.

Said the activist: “Just take a look and examine who from the private media went to Sandton and read the alarmist stories filed from there and draw your own conclusions.“What I can tell you is that what some Zimbabwean journalists and the editors are doing for money is just not right.
“But this is not new because it has happened before and has involved more or less the same characters, the same newspapers and the same NGOs such as Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition with the notable exception of the new kids on the block.

“My honest hope and prayer is that this time there would be disgruntled whistle-blowers who are tired of this rot and are prepared to speak out like I am doing by talking to you mukoma.”

A review of the headlines and feature writing in the so-called private media since March 31 when the Livingstone summit was held shows a dramatic increase of clearly exaggerated, misrepresented and false stories that are inflammatory with preposterous claims about alleged and unsubstantiated eruption of political violence, about the silent coup which is not visible or that Sadc has come up with a election roadmap.

In the same vein, there have been endless media stories since April with scurrilous claims about President Mugabe’s age and alleged poor health designed to buttress allegations of a silent coup in the hope of inflaming emotions and promoting political instability in the country as an expression of MDC-T’s election manifesto.

Contacted for comment on these latest developments regarding the British funding, Zanu-PF Politburo member Professor Jonathan Moyo, who is also a political scientist, said:
“The preposition that President Mugabe should prove that he is in good health by never ever visiting a doctor or a medical facility that we now read about in some sections of the media is stupid in every sense and cannot be entertained or believed by rationale people.

“As for the British government, I am sure UK taxpayers would be outraged to hear that £4,5 million of their money is being wasted on incompetent NGOs and ignorant and corrupt journalists who promise to effect regime change in our country when they cannot even spell their own names.

“Otherwise, anyone who imagines that they will do today what they failed to do at the height of hyperinflation is very foolish.
“The truth is that they will get more than they have bargained for because this time we are all very ready and raring to go with the knowledge that the North African spring is behind us.”

Observers told The Sunday Mail last week that the discredited dossier submitted by PM Tsvangirai ahead of the Livingstone Sadc Organ Troika Summit was an example of what the British government are funding with its £4,5 million regime change project.
The observers said British government funds will go down the drain in the same way that PM Tsvangirai’s dossier has gone into the dustbin of history.-The Sunday Mail