Brian Temba
President Mnangagwa has called on the British Government to respect the sovereignty of the Zimbabwean people and stop interfering in internal matters.
During his State of the Nation Address yesterday, President Mnangagwa said there have been invasive overtures by the British, which betray the contempt they have for our own systems and processes.
President Mnangagwa said comments that were made recently by a junior minister in the British House of Lords that their government was meeting with trade unions to discuss their welfare are unwarranted.
“To us this brazen disclosre is yet another confirmation of very gross, unwarranted blatant interferences in the domestic affairs of our country by the British government, contrary to the rules and precepts of the Geneva Conventions which regulate inter-state relations,” said President Mnangagwa.
President Mnangagwa said his Government is not taking lightly brazen disclosures by the British Government that it is working with civic groups and unions – including teachers’ unions – to undermine the Zimbabwean Government.
“Because of this brazen, self-confessed violation of our Sovereignty and threat to our national Security and Stability by the British government, the Zimbabwean Government shall institute investigations into this very grave matter,” said President Mnangagwa.
A junior minister in the British Government responsible for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, one Tariq Mahmood, revealed the British Government has “been meeting in Harare with various [trade] unions, including teaching unions, most recently in September 2021 on salaries and the impact of COVID-19.”
Lately, both the British and American governments have intensified measures intended to subvert Zimbabwe through labour unrest, ahead of 2023 elections which they fear.
The well-funded intrusive measures involving unions in the teaching and medical sectors are meant to trigger a winter of labour discontent, starting in January next year.
From September, the most recent months unions met with the British Government, teaching unions, notably opposition-affiliated PTUZ and ARTUZ, have unsuccessfully been agitating for teachers’ strikes and boycotts.
Recent Comments