Political reporter
Foreign regime change protagonists have shifted the charge of toppling the ZANU PF government from the MDC Alliance to the civil society organisations (CSOs).
The line of attack has been shifted amid ballooning disenchantment and waning confidence in the capacity of Nelson Chamisa and his embattled MDC Alliance, to execute the long-drawn-out regime change plot.
Impeccable sources from the CSOs said a substantial amount of money had been availed to the activists, to up the struggle of ejecting President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government from power. According to the sources, a South African activist, Valerie Pillay is the frontline mobiliser of the funds.
“Valerie Pillay, from South Africa, is the chief fundraiser of the money. She is working in cahoots with other activists such as Alaah Salah of Sudan, Hamma Hammami of Tunisia and Kenneth Uwadi, the president of the Human Rights Protection and Transparency Initiative, Nigeria,” said a source who is an insider in the scheme.
The source said Pillay was mobilising Zimbabwean activists in self-exile and also those in the country to agitate the people against the government, saying the opposition politicians have failed.
“In Zimbabwe, the foreign activists are working with the Southern Africa Director for Human Rights Watch, Dewa Mavhinga, Pedzisai Ruhanya, founder of Zimbabwe Partnership for Prosperity (ZPP) Blessing Kasiyamhuru, activists Joelson and Elvis Mugari,” said the source.
He said most of the exiled G40 members were involved in the scheme.
“The last meeting we had was attended by (Walter) Muzembi, (Godfrey) Gandawa, and Nthokozo Msipa among others. It was running under the theme ‘Change of Government in Zimbabwe.’ There was also a follow up virtual meeting on the same theme last week,” said the source.
The source said it was on that meeting that Pillay revealed about the funds set aside for regime change. Pillay reportedly bragged about her success stories in Egypt, Tunisia and Sudan where she claimed to have played a key role in the regime change in those countries.
The same meeting had activists from Tunisia, Sudan and Egypt sharing their experiences in regime change in their respective countries during the Arab Spring. The activists, however, revealed that it was very difficult to topple a military regime; a situation they said was obtaining in Zimbabwe.
“It was agreed that the modus operandi used in the Arab Spring might not work in Zimbabwe where there is a military regime. However, the importance of social media in undermining government was stressed.
“We are going to have an online training workshop soon where some youths from the grassroots will be taught on some techniques to be used on social media. It was emphasised that the revolution must be decentralised to make it a people’s revolution. Some experts from Serbia, South Africa, Czech Republic and the United States of America will facilitate the training workshop,” said the source.
It is not the first time that outside forces have attempted to rope in the civil society organisations in the toppling of the Zimbabwe government. In 2019, seven CSO activists were arrested after they had attended a training workshop in Maldives on subverting a constitutionally-elected government. The workshop was conducted by Centre for Applied Non-Violent Action and Strategies (CANVAS), a Serbian organisation founded by Srdja Popovic and Ivan Morovic, which is known for abetting the toppling of governments.
