By Dr Masimba Mavaza | I read Hosiah Mviringi’s article published online where he explained why Zimbabwe needs to press on with PVO Amendment Bill. He made everlasting sense when drew examples of a visitor who dictates what to eat. In many African settings such interference will be an outright insult.
ZIMBABWE has always been accused of failing to run a free a fair election. But this accusation is made by the accusers who themselves are rigging the very Zimbabwean elections before a single ballot paper is is cast.
Mviringi’s submissions where echoed by the ZANU PF’s Secretary for information Ambassador Honourable Mutsvangwa who was quiet emotional on the issue.
All this came as a result of direct attacks on Zimbabwe by Lord J Oates and Baroness Kate Hoey.
It makes more sense if we are to understand the two Lords who sit in England’s house of Lords which could have been house of senate if it was Zimbabwe’s setting. For the Benefit of doubt and those who do not know her Kate Hoey is born Catharine Letitia Hoey, Baroness Hoey she was born on the 21st of June 1946. She is better known as Kate Hoey, she is a Northern Irish politician and life peer who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Home Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and Minister for Sport from 1999 to 2001. A former member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Vauxhall from 1989 to 2019.
The Right Honourable. Kate was an acting Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee
There is no significant role she played while she was the MP. Kate is well known for he delinquency where she entered Zimbabwe unlawfully breaking the Zimbabwean immigration Laws. She has a strong passion to destabilise Zimbabwe and she has a self serving satanic attitude towards Zimbabwe where she contemptuously and disrespectfully pays no regards to Zimbabwe. In her eyes she sees herself as the game changer for Zimbabwe. She believes she can do as she pleases in Zimbabwe. She has a constituency to serve but she ignores all that and spends her energy on vilifying Zimbabwe. She was quoted recently at a CCC fundraising function promising to go to the house of Lords and persuade the respected house to deport all Zimbabweans in the UK who exercise their democratic right and support ZANU PF. In that meeting Kate Hoey supported by Thief Ndiweni and few other Zimbabweans vowed to lead a fund raising drive for CCC and in all possible ways effect a regime change where Chaimisa will be made the president of Zimbabwe. God forbids.
In the House of Lords Kate Hoey is supported by a colleague who grew up as a thief who stole his father’s credit card for his own use. This is Lord Jonny Oates.
Jonathan Oates, Baron Oates was born on the 28th December 1969. He is a British Liberal Democrat politician and member of the House of Lords. A past Chief of Staff to the former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nick Clegg, he was previously the Director of Policy and Communications at the Liberal Democrats. Jonny Oates is a former Liberal Democrat councillor in Kingston-upon-Thames, representing Grove Ward
Prior to this he worked in various communications roles in the public and private sector, including as Policy and Communications Adviser to the Chairman of the Youth Justice Board and a Director at Bell Pottinger. From 1999-2001 he lived in South Africa working for the Westminster Foundation for Democracy on a project to support political parties previously excluded from the political process under apartheid. He has also worked in Zimbabwe, teaching in a rural secondary school.
He was nominated for a life peerage in August 2015.
These two politicians have grown a liking of the Zimbabwe opposition and they always move motions to sanction Zimbabwe and at every opening of their mouths they spit venom against Zimbabwe. The Western world has been shown Zimbabwe through the tainted picture from Oates and Hoey.
Zanu PF spokesman, Christopher Mutsvangwa,was horrified by the negative comments,and he launched a stinging attack on the two British Lords describing them as “political toddlers suffering from a colonial hangover.”
This comes after the MPs criticised President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration and accused Zanu PF of killing the MDC. It is the same MPs who have publicly sought funds for CCC. Zimbabweans all over the world did not like the attitude of the two British honorables.
Addressing journalists in Harare the raging Mutsvangwa tore British Lord Jonathan Oates to shreds after he led the the anti-Mnangagwa debate in the House of Lords.
Oates also dismissed opposition MDC-T as a Zanu PF puppet party. The narrative Oates was fronting is exactly the narrative CCC is saying to the people. This becomes clear that Oates is literally representing Zimbabwe opposition. Zimbabwe has noticed a
a persistent effort on the part of the British to continue to involve themselves in Zimbabwean politics as if London still is the imperial master of Harare.
Zimbabweans are the believers of democracy who have watched the recent deterioration of U.S. elections and liberal democracy with growing alarm. They have watched the UK politicians leaving outside their own laws. Specifically, Zimbabweans have watched with deep concern as UK’s legislatures across the country have in recent years proposed or implemented what we consider radical and vindictive laws against Zimbabwe in response to unproven and intentionally destructive allegations of a stolen election. Collectively, these initiatives are transforming Zimbabwe into political systems that no longer meet the minimum conditions for free and fair elections. Hence, our entire democracy is now at risk because of the repressive attitude Zimbabwe faces.
When democracy breaks down, it typically takes many years, often decades, to reverse the downward spiral. In the process, violence and corruption typically flourish, and talent and wealth flee to more stable countries, undermining national prosperity. It is not just our venerated institutions and norms that are at risk—it is our future national standing, strength, and ability to compete globally. The British condemn Zimbabwe to ungovernable state oppress the nation to rebellion against each other and then accuse the leaders for failing to govern.
Attacking Zimbabwe’s electoral laws and demanding unreasonable changes in large key electoral battleground are dangerously politicizing the process of electoral administration, with Opposition controlled legislatures giving themselves the power to challenge electoral outcomes on unproven allegations should ZANU PF win more votes. They are seeking to restrict access to the ballot, the most basic principle underlying the right of all adult Zimbabwean citizens to participate in our democracy. By declaring Zimbabwe a autocratic nation They are also putting in place a belief meant to intimidate and scare away poll workers and nonpartisan administrators. The Western countries and legislatures have advanced initiatives that curtail voting methods and condemn Zimbabwean electoral system as archaic biased and draconian. Opposition lawmakers have openly talked about ensuring the “purity” and “quality” of the vote, echoing arguments widely used across Europe as reasons for always disputing the elections even before voting commences.
The interference in Zimbabwean affairs by the Western powers
supporting the vitriol against Zimbabwe has left Zimbabwe demanding the urgency of “electoral integrity” and the need to ensure that elections are secure and free of fraud.
Electoral Fraud in Zimbabwe is fixed in the British parliament by shameless in legislators like Kate Hoey and Jonny come late Oates. But by multiple expert judgments, the Zimbabwean election is extremely secure and free of fraud. The reason that voters have concerns is because the opposition parties with the help of UK officials, led by Hoey and Oates have manufactured false claims of fraud, claims that have been repeatedly rejected by courts of law, as mere speculation.
In future elections, these laws politicizing the administration of elections could enable these Western controlled puppets or partisan election officials to do what they failed to do all along, to reverse the outcome of a free and fair election. Further, these interference could entrench extended minority rule, violating the basic and longstanding democratic principle that parties that get the most votes should win elections. The interference of these Western powers will end up forcing another Government of National Unity.
Democracy rests on certain elemental institutional and normative conditions. Elections must be neutrally and fairly administered. They must be free of manipulation. Every citizen who is qualified must have an equal right to vote, unhindered by obstruction. And when they lose elections, political parties and their candidates and supporters must be willing to accept defeat and acknowledge the legitimacy of the outcome. The refusal of opposition to accept the outcome of the election, violate these principles. More profoundly, these actions call into question whether Zimbabwe will remain a democracy.
It is very difficult to continue playing fair when the referee is biased and playing rough.
“As lovers of democracy, we condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms as a betrayal of our precious democratic heritage and our independence. Zimbabwe will never be a colony again. Never ever. Enough blood was spilled and Zimbabwe’s future must never be discussed in a parliament of Britain as if we still are a province of the United Kingdom.
The most effective remedy for these anti-democratic actions at the international level is a strong action to protect equal access of all citizens to the ballot and to guarantee free and fair elections by punishing those who bad mouth their country. Hence we urge the parliament to fast track the PVO act. Patriotic bill must be law as soon as yesterday.
It will ultimately take ourselves to put an end to foreign led voter suppression by misinformation so we must once again ensure that Zimbabwean citizens do not depend on foreign parliamentary debates to be dominant in their state legislature, and that votes are cast and counted equally, regardless of which party is backed by Kate Hoey or J Oates. This is widely recognized as a fundamental principle of electoral integrity in democracies around the world.
PVO is essential but alone is not enough. True patriotism and integrity demands a comprehensive set of national standards that ensure the sanctity and independence of a country and its administration, guarantee that all voters can freely exercise their right to vote without foreign intervention. We must prevent partisan gerrymandering from giving opposition parties an unfair advantage in the process by starving the citizens to rebellion or to protest vote. Zimbabwe must regulate ethics and money in politics and must confiscate all donated funds from abroad.
The blood of our fathers and mothers our brothers and sisters must never be washed with money or donations.
This we reject with contempt. It is against the norms of the UN where Britain is the founding member.
“One would have thought that with all that colonial disengagement that Britain has finally understood that nations are sovereign. Alas that is not being found in British politics as to their engagements in Zimbabwe. A certain John Oates, born in 1969, was a fledgling toddler when we fought the liberation. He comes in here under the guise of being a teacher when actually he was an intelligence officer,” Cde Chris Mutsvangwa said
In Africa, courtesy is a human right, everyone deserves to be granted respect in the highest possible form, especially when they are in their own home. The British Lords have refused to adhere to the basic principles of freedom.
It is always far better for major democracy reforms to be bipartisan, to give change the broadest possible legitimacy. However, in the current hyper-polarized political context such broad bipartisan support is sadly lacking. The British government has had numerous opportunities to repudiate Hoey and his “Stop the Steal” and Regime change crusade, which is leading to total disrespect of our democratic system. Each time, they have sidestepped the truth and enabled the lie to spread. They have demonised Zimbabwe and Kate Hoey had even entered into Zimbabwe illegally broken all immigration laws of Zimbabwe and boasted about it.
We urge members of Zimbabwean Parliament to do whatever is necessary—including suspending the filibuster—in order to pass PVO amendment bill that guarantee the dignity of all Zimbabweans and prevent people from manipulating the rules in order to manufacture the result they want. Our democracy is fundamentally at stake. History will judge what we do at this moment.
The utterances of Hoey and Oates shows us that we need to guard the gains of our independence jealously.
National sovereignty has been a long-standing tenet of international law, enshrined in the United Nations Charter
Interventionism has played a major role in the foreign policies of Western powers, particularly during and after the Victorian era. The New Imperialism era saw numerous interventions by Western nations in the Global South, including the Banana Wars. Modern interventionism grew out of Cold War policies, where the United States and the Soviet Union intervened in nations around the world to counter any influence held there by the other nation.Historians have noted that interventionism has always been a contentious political issue among public opinion of countries which engaged in interventions.