Zimbabwe’s information minister has warned that alleged plans by the British government to deport up to 10 000 Zimbabweans could be cover for saboteurs to enter the country.
Moyo, recently suspended from the ruling Zanu-PF party central committee, said on Thursday that the British government has been training young Zimbabweans in violence and sabotage and could send them home ahead of Zimbabwe’s parliamentary polls set for March next year.
”[British Prime Minister Tony] Blair’s threatened deportation of 10 000 Zimbabweans might very well be cover for the deployment of such elements,” said Moyo.
”It is for this reason that there is need for vigilance. Zimbabweans, Africans and other progressive people will watch the saga of Blair’s threatened deportations of such a large number of Zimbabweans to see whether it’s not cover to deploy trained and bribed malcontents to cause mayhem during and after the 2005 elections,” he added.
Moyo said the timing of the alleged deportations is ”suspicious”, coming just 90 days ahead of polls.
”It seems Blair wants to stop the impending final and decisive defeat at the polls when he has employed all tricks to effect illegal regime change. Now he wants to use all possible means available to him,” Moyo claimed.
The controversial minister, recently reprimanded by Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe for holding an unauthorised meeting to choose a new vice-president, accused Britain outright of training saboteurs to destabilise Zimbabwe.
”Tony Blair and his cronies must not be allowed to abuse the right to freedom of travel enjoyed by Zimbabweans to derail the democratic process and Blair’s inevitable defeat in March,” he said.
The ruling Zanu-PF party has repeatedly accused the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of receiving help from the British government, a charge denied by both the MDC and Britain.
Meanwhile, Zanu-PF says it will enter next year’s elections on ”an anti-Blair” vote.
The minister went on to warn returning Zimbabweans to decide who they are.
”We have a right to ask whether these would be deportees, or Blair’s mercenaries of regime change, or plain law-abiding Zimbabweans returning home after having been abused and dehumanised in Britain. Their treatment will depend on which is which,” Moyo threatened. — Sapa