Maravi

(HERALD) MDC-T’s regime change agenda exposed

MDC-T’s regime change agenda exposed
Friday, 16 March 2012 00:00
Takunda Maodza Senior Reporter

MDC-T is covertly working with some non-governmental organisations to prepare for foreign intervention in the event its leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai falls to President Mugabe in elections set for this year. Mr Tsvangirai and his party are reluctant to contest the elections that President Mugabe insists will be held this year.

Through a network of NGOs, MDC-T plans to launch an election vilification programme dubbed the Global Advocacy Campaign in South Africa this month. The campaign, trading under the banner “Towards a peaceful, free and fair election in Zimbabwe” will be launched by PM Tsvangirai in Johannesburg (South Africa) anytime soon.

Similar launches are set for Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Britain, Geneva and in other foreign capitals.

Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jameson Timba yesterday denied leading such a campaign, but hailed the programme as good for Zimbabwe.

“If there is a campaign for Zimbabwe to have free and fair elections then it is good for Zimbabwe,” he said.

Sources say Minister Timba was recently in Tanzania to co-ordinate the GAC campaign.

He denied the claims saying he was in that country in his capacity as the MDC-T secretary for international relations.

According to documents at hand, the MDC-T and the NGOs intend to develop a national, regional and international campaign reportedly for the observance and respect of a democratic outcome of elections through lobbying and advocacy.

They will encourage South Africa, Sadc, AU, UN and the wider civil society to remain engaged around Zimbabwe’s electoral and transitional processes.

“This should not be the conjecture to let up on the country.

“International diplomacy should be innovatively applied to dangle carrots and sticks during the next elections,” reads the GAC strategy and concept paper.

A number of activities have been lined up for the campaign.

“The first activity relates to the primary importance of developing an alliance to drive the campaign on a non-partisan platform. The membership of the alliance will be defined by a set of core democratic values and drawn from national, regional and international arenas,” reads the document.

The second activity deals with the formulation of a national alliance that will entail solidarity coalition building and voluntarism while the third relates to mobilisation of regional and international partnership.

In the region, bodies like the Sadc NGO Forum, are identified as main alliance partners with global labour federations, World Council of Churches and global forums of youth and women singled out as international partners.

“The fourth (activity) will involve canvassing some global icons to lend their support to the campaign.

“Consisting of distinguished statesmen and women, musicians, sportsmen and women and film stars amongst others, the icons will endorse the campaign and serve as ‘faces and voices’ of the campaign.

“The icons will be drawn from the region and continent but also from overseas including from amongst former Heads of State such as President Kaunda, President Chissano, President Clinton, President Mkapa and President Kuffour to name but a few.

“The campaign will also establish how it would feed into the independent work of the ‘Elders Group’ who work in troubled spots and have an interest in working in Zimbabwe,” further reads the GAC document.

The development of a global communication strategy for the campaign is also outlined as one important factor to ensure success of the campaign.

A strategy would be formulated to identify strategic modes of communication with appropriate stakeholders, and engagement with departments and individuals in relevant regional and international organisations like Sadc, AU and UN.

The sixth activity will see the staging in South Africa of a musical concert “where artists who subscribe to the respect and observance of human rights and democracy” are expected to perform carrying messages of the campaign under activity six.

Creation of synergies with like-minded institutions like the Zimbabwe Peace Project and the Zimbabwe Election Support Network and the publication of a “Zimbabwe Violence Watch Report has also been planned as the seventh activity.

The publication would monitor and highlight incidents of violence as they occur and bring them to the attention of the monitoring bodies, alliance partners, the international community and the public.

Public forum discussions on ‘The Road to Free and Fair Elections’ will be conducted in Zimbabwe and worldwide. It will involve high level presentations by civic and political actors, eminent academics and policy experts with knowledge on the country.

“The tenth activity will be a substantial one. It will consist of the overall co-ordination of the campaign. A co-ordination unit will be established to that effect.

“There would need to be synergy and synchronisation between various levels of the campaign. The national, regional and global levels would need to feed into each other thus enriching and invigorating the campaign.”

There would be forums and strategic retreats “for the leadership of democratic actors” for them to remain enga-ged on the objectives of the campaign.

The launch of the GAC “will be preceeded by pre-event local and international media briefings with the launch followed and buttressed by post event media blitz and follow up activities of local civic partners to popularise the campaign”.

Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, MDC, NEOCOLONIALISM, TREASON

posted by MrK @ 5:49 PM