by Zivanai Dhewa

Zimbabweans have laid into the United States after it summoned the Zimbabwean ambassador to that country over a statement made by ZANU PF on the behaviour of the US envoy.

ZANU PF called the United States Ambassador Brian Nichols a thug, following his continued meddling in the political affairs of the country. 

The ridicule drew the ire of the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Peter Nagy Jnr, who took to twitter expressing his displeasure over the people of Zimbabwe’s freedom of expression.

“Comments of ZANU PF while sadly not surprising are deeply offensive. We have summoned the Ambassador of Zimbabwe to explain,” wrote Nagay on his twitter handle.

Analysts viewed this as hypocrisy more so when Nichols has been repeatedly meddling in the political affairs of Zimbabwe, funding, aiding, and holding unofficial secret meetings with the opposition away from his Embassy.

In August of 2019, Nichols secretly met with MDC-Alliance deputy national chairperson Job Sikhala in Chitungwiza to discuss a pending demonstration and to reassure them of Washington’s unwavering support by imposing punitive measures on Harare in the event that the authorities arrested the illegal demonstrators.

The platform was awash with netizens castigating Nagay, while reminding him that Zimbabwe is an autonomous State that did not need dictation from another country.

Answering to Nagay, one netizen only identified as mlungu_black retorted, “Zimbabwe is a sovereign State, as such it must be respected and no to meddling in its internal affairs.  Stop treating Zimbabwe like a colony.”

Maurice Maluk, another netizen concurred with the notion that Nichols and his masters were interfering in the affairs of other nations, in a thuggish cartel style.

“The US regime has all along been thuggish and wants to corral all and sundry via the imposition of sanctions and threats of military interventions,” Maluk said.

Another netizen called Tawanda Njunga, expressed his disappointment at the US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, for his decision to call the Zimbabwean Ambassador to the US for a talk over a statement by the people of Zimbabwe who were just expressing themselves, which is a human right and he called also for the closure of the US embassy in Harare.

He said, “You will never influence Zimbabwe and our Government decisions in any way.  You can take all your donations and embassy away from Zimbabwe and we wouldn’t care any less. You are very cunning and you think Zimbabwe is your country; we won’t have that nonsense from the USA.”

Meanwhile, the USA has continued to exert its power over other countries to the point of closing down other countries’ embassies on unverified accusations. 

Recently, the USA closed a Chinese Consulate in Houston over trumped up claims.  State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus confirmed the order to close the consulate, explaining it was given, “To protect American intellectual property and Americans’ private information,”   

She added that “the US would not tolerate violations of our sovereignty and intimidation of our people.” 

As the country approaches the countdown to 31 July 2020, a date that has been set aside by the opposition to stage violent protests intended at unseating a constitutionally elected Government, the United States through its Ambassador and their other proxies have been meddling and financing the demonstrations. Zimbabweans have, however, called for the closure of the US embassy in Harare.