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Joseph Madzimure in Victoria Falls
Western countries are instituting policies on Africa that are meant to destroy the liberation legacy of the region through punitive measures like sanctions and propaganda, Zanu-PF secretary for Administration Dr Obert Mpofu has said.

Delivering a keynote address on the last day of the Former Liberation Movements (FLMS) Conference in Victoria Falls yesterday, Dr Mpofu urged the movements to remain vigilant.

“We have noted in our countries how neo-colonialism has repackaged itself through narrow Western-anchored democracy and human rights discourse in African politics,” he said.

“This prescriptive democracy and human rights ignores the existence of our regional protocols and municipal institutions which are predicated on the preservation of constitutionalism and good governance in Africa.”

Sanctions, Dr Mpofu said, were being used as a diplomatic missile to intimidate FLMS-led governments.

“We have also seen how sanctions have been used as a diplomatic missile to injure our self-confidence and subjecting us to unilateral terms of dictated democracy aimed at impelling regime change and the consequent obliteration of the former liberation movements,” he said.

Dr Mpofu’s address coincided with the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Western-sponsored opposition MDC, which went on to call for the illegal economic sanctions that have burdened the economy over the past two decades.

“Neo-colonial propaganda is masked through the ambit of foreign-backed opposition, which crudely instigates a clear agenda for change-politics in Africa,” he said.

“Not that there is any evil about political transitions, but there is everything wrong when the change sought is influenced by external forces with their clear vendettas linked to decimating African nationalism.”

The West’s illegal sanctions regime is estimated to have cost the economy over $42 billion in lost revenue since the turn of the millennium, prompting Sadc leaders to call for a region-wide Day of Solidarity against Sanctions on Zimbabwe.

Dr Mpofu called on member states to unite and carry the “revolutionary light” to fight the neo-colonialism.

“Validating any change which disparages the aspirations of our shared struggle is tantamount to washing away the sacrifice of African revolutionaries,” he said.