JUST IN: Insurgent rants from the opposition – ‘Government will not hesitate to act’ Mr Mangwana

Herald Reporter

Government says it has noted with disgust insurgent rants from a member of the opposition threatening to overthrow legitimate public authorities in the country, and will not hesitate to act.

Permanent secretary for the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Nick Mangwana said the undermining of a legitimate authority is a serious crime.

“Trying to overthrow a Government is subversive and Government will not hesitate to deploy the security institutions to constrain such abuse of democratic tenets and maintain the constitutional order,” he said.

“Zimbabwe is a peaceful country and that peace is not accidental. That status of a peaceful country will be maintained by ensuring those that threaten democracy and the liberal values adopted by the New Dispensation are tried and if convicted, removed from society and put in places where they don’t pose a threat to the rest of civilised society.”

Mr Mangwana added: “Every country under the sun has places for miscreants and we would not hesitate make use of them to protect democracy and constitutionalism values which are highly esteemed in the New Dispensation.

“It is understandable that when before a crowd some get excitable and experience a rush of blood to the head. We urge them to demobilise that animal instinct and deploy their faculties located in the higher centres of their brains and embrace constitutional means of opposing the Government.”

He added that the utterances could have been a deliberate ploy to derail current re-engagement talks with the British Government.

“We don’t rule out a deliberate effort to provoke the authorities into enforcing the law so as to get negative international attention at the time when the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is meeting the British Foreign Minister as well as the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Baroness Scotland to advance Zimbabwe’s re-engagement and mainstreaming efforts.  While we will not hesitate to enforce the law, we will not be baited to a predictable default.”

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