by Nobleman Runyanga
The much-hyped MDC North America branch’s anti-President Emmerson Mnangagwa demonstration which was slated for today in New York flopped monumentally as less than ten people, mostly Zimbabwean refugees, turned up for the event. The protest, which received a lot of hype both at home and abroad, was calculated to embarrass the President by questioning his legitimacy through placard messages.
The organisers of the demonstration were counting on Zimbabwean professionals in America to bolster their numbers and lend weight to their causeless case against President Mnangagwa’s recent electoral victory.
President Mnangagwa last week addressed Zimbabweans, mostly professionals, in the United States who expressed their willingness to return home and use their various skills and experience in the ongoing efforts to build the country.
“Many people have this negative view of Zimbabweans in the diaspora as asylum seekers or people without professions or skills who are just seeking asylum to flee the economic challenges at home. On the contrary, especially here in the (United) States, we have doctors, bankers, brokers and businesspeople among other professions,” said patriot and Pan-Africanist writer, Dambudzo Mapuranga, on the sidelines of the meeting.
Mapuranga, commenting on the failed protest, indicated that following their interaction with the President most Zimbabweans were convinced that he was the only person who could take the country out of the ongoing economic challenges and move it forward.
“Most people were misinformed and misled by the MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa and his few people here about the situation at home. After the President’s address to us Zimbabweans living here many people have come to the realisation that Chamisa was taking Zimbabweans in the diaspora up a garden path for his own selfish and vindictive ends. After that address I am not surprised that only just a handful of people had turned up for the so-called demo,” said Mapuranga.
“The President’s electoral victory and subsequent visit to the US to address the UNGA was a game changer. Even other opposition members such as the Thokozani Khupe-led MDC-T here have since joined us in meeting the President and congratulating him. They have since seen through Chamisa’s scheming, no wonder the poor turnout.
“One of the key issues which most Zimbabweans in the diaspora had was their right to vote and (President) ED has since assured that his administration would look at the matter with the view to enabling them to vote in 2023. Given this background, what would one still be protesting for?” questioned Dr Patrick Mureverwi another US-based professional.
The flopped demonstration was part of Chamisa’s strategies to leverage the presence of world leaders and the international media in New York to advance his claims that the poll was rigged although he failed to prove this in the Constitutional Court when he petitioned it last month. He was dealt a severe blow when the UN invited President Mnangagwa to address the UNGA, which effectively endorsed his presidency at global level.
