By Elizabeth Sitotombe
OPPOSITION youths affiliated to former Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa are purportedly scheming to disrupt the approaching SADC Summit to be hosted by Zimbabwe in August 2024.
It is our understanding that a group of Harare-based youths aligned to Chamisa recently assembled in Belvedere, Harare, where plans to cause anarchy in the country were discussed.
There are reports that Wellington Ruzvidzo, who chaired the meeting, wants to start by organising flash demos at district level, using the youth district co-ordinating committees he recently established with Chamisa’s blessings.
Ruzvidzo, who is based in Mbare, is not new to violence and criminal activities. In 2019, he was suspected to have burnt the ZRP vehicle at Southlea Park Police Station and was also suspected to have been part of a gang that burnt a ZINARA tollgate in 2019 before jumping the border to South Africa.
Nicknamed G One, Ruzvidzo later emerged in Mbare where he was roped in by Starman Chamisa’s campaign team that terrorised the Mupedzanhamo flea market area, extorting stall fees from informal traders.
Due to his radicalism, Ruzvidzo was rewarded with the role of leading CCC Harare youths.
His strong ties to Job Sikhala and ARTUZ leader Obert Masaraure have raised eyebrows made among members of the Chamisa camp.
Ruzvidzo has been linked to various plots to unleash terror in the country, many which have suffered a stillbirth thanks to the high alert security sector.
Apart from Ruzvidzo, other purported demonstration co-ordinators are Gift Ostallos Siziba, Peter Mutasa, Denford Ngadziore, Lovejoy Chitengu, Eric Gono, Donaldson Mabuto, Jaison Kautsa, Chamunorwa Tembo, Samuel Meso, Samuel Gwenzi, Tinashe Hamauswa, Last Chinodya, Edith Mundiya and Bernard Ncube.
According to an inside source, Ruzvidzo is said to have urged the youths to mobilise widely as the proposed demos will be well funded.
The West will readily fund organisations willing to cause anarchy in the country. Their aim is to propel Zimbabwe into the limelight for all the wrong reasons. The opposition, in their different forms and shades, have deployed various tactics to tarnish the country’s good global standing each time there is a regional and international event or when the country is expecting high-ranking visitors.
It is well planned; on the sidelines, several CSOs have been claiming that State security agents have been abducting fellow human rights defenders — but to wit, there have been no police reports! Despite the dubious assertions, the claims, surprisingly, die a natural death with no follow-ups by the affected parties.
Meanwhile, opposition political parties resurrected the National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) as the National Elections Reform agenda(NERA) so what is the difference?. It was relaunched on Saturday, March 23.
Remember NERA?
A rather useless outfit that was touted as a new dawn in Zimbabwean politics but instead only served to be advocates of despondency and anarchy. They are responsible for carrying out violent demonstrations on August 26 2016 which ended very badly with businesses looted and acts of arson committed —all this to portray a country in a state of emergency.
NERA was then slapped with a US$1 million class action lawsuit by Citizens Against Violence and Anarchy Trust (CAVAAT) for damaging, burning and looting wares and property from business entities during the violent demonstrations.
NERA, then a coalition of 16 opposition political parties, organised a demonstration to lobby for electoral reforms. The participants went on a rampage, looting goods from shops, burning wares at flea markets, setting ablaze vehicles and other properties. Among businesses caught up in the disturbances were Chicken Slice, Edgars, Choppies Supermarket, Bata and several clothing boutiques, small to medium enterprises as well as informal traders.
In this first class action in Zimbabwe and second on the African continent, the High Court, in 2018, ruled in favour of members of CAVAAT and ordered NERA to pay US$300 000 damages to CAVAAT and costs of the suit and that was the end of NERA.
Part of the judgment reads: “It is declared that the claim for damages by the plaintiff (CAVAAT) on behalf of the individual members of the class action under Case Number HC5377/17 is granted. The defendant shall pay the following damages; an aggregate sum of (US)$298 345 as damages claimable and assessed as at October 18 2017 and the sum of (US)$499,10 per day for all individual members of the class action whose damages have been assessed from October 19 2017 to date of judgment.”
But NERA is yet to pay for these damages since they believe in and are advocates for the observance of the so-called rule of law.
“It is a travesty of justice for NERA to be able to come up again and hide behind technicalities and think that the law has forgotten. The judgment remains, despite the number of years that they have taken in hiding and their disappearing act. As CAVAAT, we are yet to be paid for our legal costs. Justice must come to us. We believe in the rule of law and the outcome of the verdict should be effected as governed and delivered by the High Court,” said Elton Ziki, one of CAVAAT directors who deposed the founding affidavit.
“As NERA emerges from its regime change closet, it should also emerge with its skeletons and its baggage. NERA should atone for its sins. It must be made to pay all that they own (sic).”
It is clear that NERA was relaunched in a bid to not only solicit funds from the West but cause more unrest and anarchy, like the 2016 chaos.
The NERA convener was Manyara Irene Muyenziwa, who claimed the initiative marked a significant milestone in the country’s quest for ‘fair and credible electoral processes aiming at fundamentally altering the electoral landscape to reflect the true will of the people’.
NERA will use various strategies and tactics to pressure the Government and ZEC.
NERA will move into all 10 provinces to launch their organisation.
At the reconvening of NERA, attendees were given survey papers rating ZEC management on the elections and their conduct before elections in the past.
In what appeared to be a well-choreographed exercise, various individuals rated ZEC management as ‘bad’ while others rated it ‘very bad’. This was much to the glee of opposition handlers who included an EU agent who could be seen furiously writing away as, one after the other, attendees bashed the Government and ZEC.
One speaker unwittingly let the cat out of the bag when he said: “We were known for violence, but we have come back reformed.”
When chided by another member for speaking truth to violence, he retracted his statement and implored the media to write truthfully. And truthfully we write!
The National Electoral Reform Agenda is a document that was signed by several political parties on December 2 2015 which gave birth to the coalition of the same name.
Among the signatories were the Movement for Democratic Change — Tsvangirai (MDC-T) and its breakaway faction led by Welshman Ncube.
NERA attempted to demonstrate against the July 30 2018 elections results, but the demo was a monumental flop.
NERA is a regime change-inspired grouping of opposition political parties. They may fool a few into believing theirs is a genuine push for electoral reforms, but they have already shown themselves for who they really are — mere sponsored regime change advocates.
And, now, this sudden flurry of activity portends chaos in the days to come.
