from DANAI MWARUMBA in Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Bureau
HARARE, (CAJ News) – ZIMBABWE’S ruling party feels vindicated after the closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by the new administration of President Donald Trump.
This week, Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, announced that he and Trump were in the process of shutting down the agency, claiming it to be a “criminal organisation” and that it was “beyond repair.”
The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), the southern African nation’s ruling party has long held this view, especially since 2000 when relations between the two countries soured, after Zimbabwe embarked on its land reforms.
“The Trump administration has revealed that USAID has been used as a conduit for regime change activities worldwide, vindicating Zimbabwe’s long-held concerns,” said the ruling party-aligned ZANU-PF Patriots.
It added: “From funding opposition groups to fueling protests and coups, USAID’s actions have often destabilized nations under the guise of ‘aid’.”
ZANU-PF, first under president Robert Mugabe (USAID), had accused agencies like USAID of plotting regime change by sponsoring opposition groups, mainly the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
It was vibrant at its formation in 1999, but has degenerated into various splinter groups.
ZANU-PF Patriots believes Trump’s administration had taken bold steps to halt the USAID operations, calling the agency’s activities “antithetical to American values.”
The ruling party-aligned organisation said Zimbabwe had consistently raised alarms about USAID’s role in undermining its sovereignty.
“This revelation is a wake-up call for the world to scrutinize foreign aid motives.”
USAID was established in 1961, under the presidency of John Kennedy.
Meanwhile, the new government of America is to embark on mass deportations, with Zimbabweans illegally living in the US not spared.
Millions of Zimbabweans have fled the economic and political problems that the ruling party argues are a result of sanctions by America and its Western allies, who acted to push the southern African nation for reclaiming land from the 4, 500 white minority, who clung to the country’s 90 percent of rich aluvial soils while the manority 15 million were landless.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa equally responded to the unfolding USAID shenanigans.
“The Government of Zimbabwe supports the United States Government’s decision to repatriate and return our citizens who may have been residing in the US illegally,” Mnangagwa said.
Several other African governments, especially under the leadership of foremer liberation movements had long held suspicions about the USAID’s activities in the continent distabilising peace while at the same time effecting coups to leaders whom the US did not like.
– CAJ News