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We wouldn’t have expected anything different from Uncle Sam and his local acolytes in the mould of the Nelson Chamisa-led opposition MDC Alliance party.

At a time when SADC and the African Union (AU) are unequivocal in sending to the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) a collective anti-sanctions message, the local opposition found themselves in the embarrassing unenviable position of having to come up with a counter-narrative.

The regional anti-sanctions message was so clear and deafening. In response, the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian Nichols was forced to come up with a flood of desperate tweets in a vain attempt to neutralise the impact of the collective African voice.

Most embarrassing was the fact that Ambassador Nichols’ tweets were parroted with enthusiasm by MDC-A spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere and others.

Here is a sad case of someone spending much of her time trying to perfect and sharpen her accent to sound European while being oblivious of Europeans sharpening tools for neo-colonial conquests.

Many have called the MDC Alliance a willing lapdog of America. The party has always denied it. However, they have worked very hard to prove critics right.

Mahere went into overdrive to try and discredit SADC and the AU’s calls for the removal of the illegal sanctions, while amplifying America’s position.

The hidden hand of the West should be obvious to anyone. The attempt to control resources is plain to see.

From Libya, South Sudan, Nigeria and Cabo Delgado Province in northern Mozambique, the scramble for natural resources by neo-imperial powers is the reason behind the instability.

One has to ask why the US has not said a word about the situation in Cabo Delgado, if their sole concern was human rights.

They have been silent because American companies are circling around Mozambique’s billion dollar gas fields.

It’s not like there is no US Embassy in Maputo to lecture the Mozambican government about the situation in Cabo, or the 300 000 people displaced so far.

The week in which a video of a woman being allegedly shot by men in uniform in Mozambique, the US embassy in Maputo only tweeted about a US$1,5 billion insurance deal for American companies moving into Mozambique’s gas industry.

There was not a word about the shooting or the displaced people.

One does not need to be a rocket scientist to connect the dots in seeing that instability on our continent seems to be concentrated in highly resourced areas.

In the case of Zimbabwe, our crime was to take back our land from white farmers. What happened in Zimbabwe needed not be replicated anywhere in Africa as this threatens white hegemonic control over the means of production— the land.

We need to say the truth plain and simple.

Almost all the countries experiencing some form of instability and economic strangulation can trace their problems to a colonial past.

Colonisers brutally stole land from indigenous people and who doesn’t know that colonialism was all about plundering and looting African resources.

We are aware that the colonial project has taken a new twist in that it is now being aided and abetted by puppet political parties that are being funded to take over from nationalist parties that spearheaded the de-colonial struggle.

It must not be that hard even for a thoroughly brainwashed Uncle Tom to understand the fact that sanctions imposed by the US and the EU are unilateral and illegal.

The ‘targeted sanctions’ mantra is a lie. From the fines imposed on banks, to ordinary Zimbabweans failing to transact, this has been proven to be false.

It is therefore disingenuous on the part of the MDC-A and its handlers to claim that sanctions are about human rights.

There is not a single country not faced with human rights challenges.

And in the case of the Second Republic in Zimbabwe, President Mnangagwa has instituted various reforms meant to entrench and widen the democratic space in the country.

This, the President is doing not because America has said so but because he knows dealing with corruption is good for his people and his Government.

We can forgive these former colonisers because we know they are still afflicted by an inherent racist malaise that sees Africans as perpetual hewers of wood and drawers of water, but we can’t surely forgive our own fellow black brothers and sisters in the MDC-A for openly identifying with neo-imperial powers.

We also feel that Ambassador Nichols will do himself good by not lying to Zimbabweans that sanctions are not affecting the ordinary people.

It is instructive that, in its flood of tweets, not once did the US embassy mention Section 10 of ZDERA, whose effect and demand is the reversal of land reform. They know the truth. They just choose to hide it from those that won’t read, or are blinded by their worship of America.

Who does Ambassador Nichols think he is fooling when his own compatriot, the sanctions campaigner Senator Chris Coons, openly admits that sanctions are hurting ordinary citizens and stalling economic development?

Let us put it again on record that Senator Coons has said that: “I think Zimbabwe is rightly recognised as a country with terrific potential. It has wonderful human resources in terms of educated citizenry. It has got a legacy of infrastructure and development, agriculture potential, natural resources.

“If sanctions are removed, I think they will find interested partners from around the world that will gladly come and invest in the development of the region.

“But as long as there are significant sanctions imposed by Western countries on Zimbabwe that raises both direct and indirect challenges for them.”

Let it be known to the US and the EU that Zimbabweans have had a history of fighting colonial injustices and are conscious of their true friends. They won’t be fooled into thinking that those who once subjugated them including forcibly taking their land and violating their humanity, have today become the paragons of virtue.

Never. Puppets will never rule Zimbabwe.