WHY IS THE WEST CHANGING NARRATIVE ON ZIM NOW?

Lately, there has been rising positive publicity on Zimbabwe and rising negativity on South Africa by international media and white South African media.

Just recently, the world bank released unemployment numbers that put Zimbabwe’s unemployment at 5.1%, as the bank for the first time categorized self-employed Zimbabweans as gainfully employed. Meanwhile, they put South Africa’s unemployment rate at among the highest in Africa, at a whopping 35%.

These are the same people that delegitimized Zimbabwe for 20yrs by singing about its 90% unemployment, and now, all of a sudden, they have changed their negative outlook on the country to positive.

In the past week, both Bloomberg and News 24 wrote about the massive economic turn around taking place in Zimbabwe and the fact that Zimbabwe grew its exports and economy under COVID.

Yes, things have been changing in Zimbabwe, but, they have been changing for 7yrs and these media houses never spoke about it, until now, and the question is why?

The reason is because the west are now turning their cross hairs on South Africa, in preparation for the sanctions and isolation that are coming the moment the ANC remove Cyril Ramaphosa and embark on Radical Economic Transformation and land expropriation without compensation.

By creating a good narrative on Zimbabwe, while vilifying South Africa, the west are warning the ANC not to trade places with ZANU PF by removing Ramaphosa and embarking on their NASRAC resolutions of RET and land expropriation without compensation.

Notwithstanding, the fact is a move to remove Cyril Ramaphosa, to facilitate RET and land expropriation without compensation, is now inevitable because the survival of the ANC and many of its leaders, depends on this move.

If the ANC do not remove Ramaphosa and undertake RET and land expropriation, they are firstly, going to lose a number of municipalities in this year’s municipal elections and that will culminate in a below majority in the national elections in 2024. This in turn will forge an ANC coalition with the DA that will bolster right leaning members of the ANC and see RET supporters being isolated, prosecuted, jailed and losing their livelihoods, in a South Africa that will have returned both political and economic power back to whites, democratically.

This means, RET and land reform are now a matter of life and death for the ANC, many of its senior members and the black middle class, who risk loosing their economic relevance and some being sent to prison for fighting the status quo, if the DA comes into power via coalition, to restore apartheid in a majority democracy.

With diamonds, gold and iron almost finished in South Africa, as witnessed by Anglo America selling its local gold mines and ArcelorMittal downsizing operations. SA mining companies are readying to jump into Zimbabwe where vast amounts of gold, diamonds, nickel, high grade chrome, natural gas, platinum group metals and lithium reserves are being dangled by the former Lonmin CEO, who is now Zimbabwe’s Minister Of Mines.

Now, as soon as RET and land expropriation begin, they will be accompanied by the west imposing sanctions and launching an aggressive negative campaign to delegitimize the ANC with the hope of isolating South Africa.

The sanctions will be immediate, sharp and painful, in a country where black people produce and control nothing. White farmers will stop producing staples eaten by blacks, western companies that control South Africa’s GMO seeds will withhold their seeds and investment in agriculture will dry up.

The prices of food will go up, store-shelves will go empty and whites will produce for whites, while blacks scramble to feed themselves.

The black middle class will lose jobs as western corporations divest, inflation will skyrocket, household debt defaults will grow out of proportion, tax collection will fall, grants will dwindle, violence will increase and the economy will crash.

Almost immediately, the black middle class will lose their homes, cars and luxuries, and the west hope this will propel blacks to vote out the ANC for a white party or revolt.

My worry is that it seems like Harare has already been given this memo and promised lucrative investments by white capital that will immediately start migrating South African capital to the newly formed Victoriafalls exchange, which is being positioned to be the financial center of Sub-Saharan Africa.

This is the reason white South African media and western media are beginning to weave a pro-Zimbabwe narrative and stories like black villagers being evicted to make way for a white dairy company in the Lowveld.

Zimbabwe is the destination being eyed by South African capital because Zimbabwe is the only country in the region with the diversity of resources, endowment of skills, stability and hunger for investment to safeguard western investment in the region.

The problem with this scenario is it’s not an opportunity for Zimbabwe, and I know that many politicians in Harare and various capitals in Africa, are itching to teach black South Africans a lesson for their arrogance, xenophobia and nurturing this beast of white monopoly, BUT, that will have no benefits for us as black people.

The coming time is not the time for slaves to be settling cheap scores for crumbs falling off the table where whites will be carving Africa’s golden goose. It’s a time for us to stick together as Africans, to fight for the control of our resources collectively, if we are going to defeat neo-colonialism.

It will be difficult for Harare to turn down western investment that promises to lift the isolation and turn Zimbabwe into the jewel of Africa, albeit, we must never forget that we had western investment only in Zimbabwe, for 90yrs during colonialism and it never lifted black people.

We must also never forget that the same investment that will run from South Africa into Africa, is the same investment that raped and pillaged over $15tril out of one of the richest countries in the world: South Africa and left them with nothing today. In fact, it’s the same investment that enslaved, colonized and destabilized the whole of Africa for centuries, but left us with nothing to build with.

It’s time to let western investment go as we stand in unity with South Africa to build Africa together.

#UniteOrDieAfrica by Rutendo Bereza Matinyarare of ZUAUWS.