Zimbabwe is under siege and there is an appetite to destabilize the nation from the likes of Piers Pigou, former deputy Minister of Information Bright Matonga has said.
Piers is a senior consultant for International Crisis Group that is allegedly sponsoring journalists to destabilize the country.
The former information deputy in the late Robert Mugabe’s cabinet said this during a televised discussion Inside Story on Aljazeera which had other panelists such as Obert Gutu, also a former deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs in the inclusive government and Piers Pigou.
“We have Mr Piers Pigou, he is one of the people who sponsors these journalists to destabilize Zimbabwe and his organization is well known for that and it also works in cahoots with certain organizations based in South Africa sponsored by the same culprit (Pigou).
“Their efforts are aimed at pushing some to say this government (ZANU PF) is incompetent and is doing nothing which is a very wrong narrative,” he added.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been on record saying that the economic bleeding and instability obtaining in Zimbabwe, is clearly the work of a third force.
He has also categorically stated that his administration will however defeat all machinations fronted by these rogue elements acting in collusion with the country’s detractors.
Matonga added that it has been the trend by these third forces since the time of the late President Robert Mugabe, when the agenda to effect regime change in Zimbabwe was mooted after the successful land reform programme.
“It is a pattern and an indication that there are people who have not stopped in sponsoring to destabilize Zimbabwe…and people want to paint this government as oppressive and that nothing has changed post Robert Mugabe’s time.”
In response Piers Pigou dismissed the allegations and highlighted that he was not surprised by the narrative.
“This is a narrative we have seen for many years and Bright Matonga is equally culpable as he was a semi-propaganda Minister in the Mugabe’s administration, l am not surprised to see this kind of allegation that people like me will pay to undermine the government of Zimbabwe.”
During the same programme, Obert Gutu said the challenges of Zimbabwe are multi-faceted and are both internally and externally driven.
“Zimbabwe’s challenges are a cocktail of factors both internally and externally driven…We must not forget that the past two decades or more Zimbabwe has been under some form of sanctions and this country has literally been battered from 2001-2002 with the coming in of ZIDERA.
“You can actually trace this to the onset of the land reform programme at the turn of the century and the economy have been going south since then.
He however applauded the new dispensation for making notable changes and a spirited fight against corruption.
“There have been some marked difference with the new dispensation because l do not remember under Robert Mugabe administration if there was a Minister fired or arrested for corruption.”