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Tichaona Zindoga Political Editor

African-Americans who early this week outmanoeuvred sponsored activists who wanted to stage a demonstration against President Mugabe on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, said they did so to defend Zimbabwe’s sovereignty and self-determination.Evan Mawarire, self-proclaimed pastor of the so-called #ThisFlag campaign, with the support of the opposition, the self-exiled Thomas Mapfumo, and anti-government activist Patson Dzamara planned what they dubbed #UNShutdown demonstrations on Monday and Tuesday, seeking to put Zimbabwe on the global radar.

This was part of a renewed plan to force early elections and upend Zimbabwe’s constitutional order and set aside the mandate Zanu-PF won in its landslide election victory in 2013.

The December 12th Movement led by its chairperson Cde Viola Plummer and the evergreen Coltrane Chimurenga, however, pulled the rug from under the feet of the acolytes by mounting a counter-march which drew hundreds and drowned out Zimbabwean activists that numbered no more than 20.

“The motivation and mission was to counter the attacks on the Republic of Zimbabwe and the leadership of H.E Robert Gabriel Mugabe,” revealed Cde Plummer to The Herald yesterday.

“We had to expose the use of this hashtag social media, US State Department, Britain, European Union, Australian puppets as that front for the continued attack on Zimbabwe and the blatant violation of Zimbabwe’s right to sovereignty and self-determination.”

She said genuine Africans, Zimbabwean patriots would not join hands with the US given its interventionist, murderous history in Africa and throughout the world.

America is also mistreating people of colour and arbitrarily killing unarmed black people in what has been referred to as modern-day lynchings.

“We consider their unity with these heirs of the worst slavery known to humanity our enemies. Further as sons and daughters of Africa we exist in the belly of the beast; our treatment at the hands of the US government: incarceration, poverty, homelessness, on and on in every social indicator we are discriminated against,” she said.

Cde Plummer castigated Mawarire for calling for sanctions and disinvestment in Zimbabwe.

She said: “We cannot discern and differentiate their sentiments from the script of the US Government. To call for sanctions to continue as a tool to correct corruption is ludicrous.”

“(The US) seek regime changes as an international policy as they choose who should lead in their interest. Remember Morgan Tsvangirai (of the opposition) MDC? America has stated unequivocally they have no permanent friends only permanent interests,” she added.