…Saying it’s a ploy to silence critics
The union of non-governmental has debunked the warning of the state security minister regarding an impending coup.
It said that the government claims of a coup plot by the opposition and civic society are a ploy to silence critics.
Crisis Coalition, which consist 87 NGOs, said in a statement that the claims by state security minister Owen Ncube were “worrisome and a direct threat to activists who dare challenge the status quo”.
On Monday, September 28, Ncube accused the opposition, MDC Alliance of wanting to import arms to unseat President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
In the statement issued by Ncube, he stated that the country’s security and stability were under siege from several threats being instigated by internal and external actors.
He added that the “siege” was related to the MDC Alliance’s defeat during the July 2018 polls much to the displeasure of the party’s foreign backers.
Ncube made a vague claim about an “Operation Light House” inspired by an unnamed Western nation to bring arms of war into Zimbabwe.
“Some rogue elements amongst us are conniving with some hostile Western governments to smuggle guns and set up so-called democratic resistance committees,” he explained.
In his statement, he accused the opposition of turning the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and church leaders against Mnangagwa.
“They have also attempted to cause Western countries, the Sadc and churches to turn against government by making false allegations of human rights abuses. The negative forces have even gone to the extent of stage-managing abductions and propagating lies on social media,” he said.
MDC Alliance treasurer-general, David Coltart ridiculed the claim, stating that the alliance was committed to non-violence.
He compared Ncube’s claim to one made in 1981 by Mnangagwa, then state security minister, when Joshua Nkomo’s Zapu was accused of attempting to overthrow the late Robert Mugabe just a year after independence.
“What followed was a crackdown that resulted in the Gukurahundi massacres in which at least 20,000 civilian lives were lost in Zapu strongholds, ” he recalled.
