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My Turn With Tichaona Zindoga—

THERE is a big, stinking scandal that has just hit the opposition “civil society” circles. It concerns one Linda Masarira, a controversial anti-Government activist who a few days ago claimed to have been beaten up by six men whom she insinuated to be members of State security.

Linda claimed she was pounced on as she arrived at her house in Harare and was left for dead, seeing her end up in some hospital.

She later posted pictures of her battered self on social media and went on to thank God for “saving” her from her assailants.

Linda then apparently canvassed for funds to help her since she had survived the ordeal, which she wanted to paint as gruesome.

Ordinarily, opposition activists get a lot of sympathy when they are involved in such ordeals as Linda wanted to portray – or indeed when they get arrested and caged for their activities, most of which are illegal in terms of the laws governing public order and security.

That is how the idea of protesting and demonstrating against Government – the Government of President Mugabe and Zanu-PF – has become such a multi-million dollar industry.

The entire opposition in Zimbabwe and its appendages in the civil society and private media live off opposing President Mugabe and seeking, or rather pretending to seek, to end his rule.

There is a captive market for these activities: Western countries led by the United States of America and Britain have been seeking to depose President Mugabe after he upset the West by embarking on the land reform programme in 2000 (and venturing into the DRC war earlier).

The land reform programme reconfigured land ownership in the country with whites, who numbered up to only 6 000, losing colonially-gotten land.

The story of how the Western world have thus been seeking regime change in Zimbabwe is well documented.

It is also now a familiar story how President Mugabe is portrayed as a monster in the West by leaders and through mainstream media that daily spews anti-President Mugabe propaganda.

The civil society is one of at least four prongs of a strategy to cause regime change in Zimbabwe.

This strategy entails sponsoring the opposition to wrestle power, which the West has abortively done through the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai; sponsoring private media as opposition mouthpieces; sponsoring civil society as the pseudo-voice of the “people”; and ramping up diplomatic efforts by the West to influence countries of the world, in particular Africa, to aid and accept regime change in Zimbabwe.

A lot of money has been invested in this strategy and these efforts.

Consequently, a lot of people have made a killing out of the money that Western donors have provided over the years in their blind pursuit of regime change in Zimbabwe as they have sponsored many organisations and individuals for “standing up to Mugabe”, that is seeking regime change.

While the formal opposition could be said to be the biggest recipient of this dirty money, a network of civil society organisations has also benefitted immensely, with most of these funds ending up being abused by project coordinators and managers who have gone on to marry more wives, get more concubines, gallivant in high seas, buy houses and do whatever they could imagine with the money.

It is said that a fool is soon parted with his money.

Several beneficiaries, including Morgan Tsvangirai who paid off fortunes as big as US$300 000 for women, have been fools (now he is in virtual penury).

Americans and their allies who have poured money into the regime change project in Zimbabwe have been even bigger fools.

An American diplomat once complained that with the resources that they had put into the regime change project in Zimbabwe, elsewhere they would have achieved their goals.

Yes, that is how the Americans and their friends have been fooled by the opposition they created and sponsored!

But things are changing.

Over the years, funding has been steadily declining towards both the opposition and its appendages.

It is called donor fatigue.

Money has thus come in drips and drabs necessitating not just accountability but also creativity on the part of whoever sought donor funding for their activities.

The belt has just gotten tighter over the past few years, not least because since the defeat of the opposition in the elections of 2013, there has not been any real appetite by donors to release money.

It is not the season.

Yet the need for money has not declined – it may just as well have whetted, in an era when people want to live cushy lifestyles plucked directly from the sky whatever miracle or voodoo.

New stratagems have been devised and this has given us the likes of Evan Mawarire – a lone actor who has to thank the stars now that for his pains he is now in the US.

The pastor needs no introduction.

Then there is the likes of Patson Dzamara, a close disciple of Mawarire.

Our Linda is an associate of Patson and have been carrying out all sorts of drama including staging small time protests at Africa Unity Square and provoking police and using children as human shields.

Patson, who tries ever too hard, has mounted some controversial histrionics in his anti-Government activities which he says are aimed at expressing anger over the disappearance of his brother Itai.

The older Itai was last seen in public two years ago and his sympathisers say he was abducted for protesting against Government – a solo act that was ignored even by his friends – while the more realistic watchers believe that Itai posed no threat to anyone to warrant an “abduction by State security agents”.

The new activism by the likes of Evan and Patson, as well as Linda, which has drawn so much sympathy on social media and new technology has been driven by personal interest and glory hunting and all the money that comes with it.

Evan reached the apex.

He even went on to appeal for crowdfunding to buy his mate Patson a new car after the latter claimed that his car had been burnt down by State security agents at the end of last year.

The report of the incident was seen as fishy – not least because many people, including those in the civil society have grown deeply suspicious of Patson and many quietly disapprove of him as an attention seeker.

Now the proverbial sh*t has hit the fan.

No one is buying Linda Masarira’s story.

Many know the story to be false and have indicated that the activist was battered by her live-in boyfriend Makomborero Haruzivashe, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe National Students’ Union.

A man 10 years her junior.

It’s scandalous (the bigger scandal, though being that Linda cohabits with a much younger man at her house) – and the murmurs of disapproval and derision are getting louder – that Linda now appeals to donors for help.

Nobody is prepared to be hoodwinked and civil society members are getting embarrassed by this immoral donor money mongering.

No, it’s not about thieves having honour!

Many fear that donors are growing more suspicious and the likes of Linda can just spoil it for them.

They are.

More importantly, many Zimbabweans have begun seeing through the lies and drama that these people in the opposition have been staging all in an effort to corruptly get money from gullible and stupid politically motivated donors.

It’s all getting unstuck.