The Zimbabwe government has unearthed an alleged plot by the opposition and some Western countries to destabilise the country and topple President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a cabinet minister has said.
State Security Minister Owen Ncube claimed that members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance and exiled former ruling ZANU PF officials were allegedly working with “hostile Western nations” to smuggle guns into the country and set up so-called Democratic Resistance Committees (DRCs) to destabilise the country.
“Zimbabwe’s security and stability is currently under siege from a number of threats being fomented by internal and external actors,” Ncube said in a five-page statement on Monday.
He said the objective of “this attack is to effect an unconstitutional change of Government following the outcome of the 2018 harmonised elections, which was not favourable to the MDC-Alliance and its foreign backers.”
“We are watching attempts to drive Zimbabwe into chaos,” the minister said.
He sensationally claimed that the MDC Alliance and G40 officials are conniving with unnamed Western governments to smuggle guns into Zimbabwe for purposes of arming the DRCs, “that are, for all intents and purposes, violent militia groups”.
“These plans are key components of ‘Operation Lighthouse’, the brainchild of one Western power, that seeks to destroy the democratic foundations of Zimbabwe, make the country ungovernable and justify foreign intervention.
He singled out former information minister Jonathan Moyo and other ex-ZANU PF officials commonly known as the G40 faction of being behind the plot to destabilise the security forces.
“We notice attempts by self-exiled G40 elements, such as Professor Jonathan Moyo, to destabilise the security services through making false accusations about security officers who are unwavering in their determination to defend national sovereignty,” Ncube said.
Moyo recently named and shamed intelligence officers he claimed have been behind the abduction and torture of government critics in the past few months.
The accusations by Ncube come as Zimbabwe is on edge amid political tensions between ZANU PF and MDC Alliance as well as a worsening economic situation.
JN/APA