Zimbabwean minister says CNN part of regime change agenda

By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |

Home Affairs minister, Ignatius Chombo, has rapped CNN, a US-based global news network, of fabricating stories as part of a western regime change agenda.

Chombo gave an interview to the government-controlled Herald at the weekend, and said CNN was a mouthpiece for external forces seeking to remove President Robert Mugabe, 92, from power.

Mugabe, however, is facing increasing rebellion from inside his own ruling Zanu PF as some top members want him to leave office before the 2018 general elections.

Recently, long time foot soldiers, the war veterans, announced that they would no longer support him, describing the president as too old to fix an economy that is rattling towards collapse.

They are backing his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is leading Team Lacoste, a faction that is also supported by influential securocrats.

Chombo said CNN had stage-managed an interview with a fake police officer as part of regime change propaganda.

“Surprisingly, the CNN, a western propaganda media house, in its capacity as one of the mouthpieces for the Zimbabwean regime change agenda, has gone on to stage-manage an interview with a bogus police officer to create confusion.

“The stage-managed interview is an agenda-setting tool…We, therefore, urges CNN to engage relevant officials within the ZRP and to verify facts before publishing falsehoods that tarnish the image of the country,” said Chombo.

The minister, under whose portfolio the police falls, claimed civil society was manufacturing videos and photo-shopping images that are then shared through social media to tarnish the country’s image.

“Their objective is to induce public disorder and eventually remove a legitimate government from power by force,” said Chombo.

Since July, citizen protesters have taken to Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp to mobilise others to demonstrate against the Zanu PF government.

He accused the main opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T) of plotting to violently removing the Mugabe regime.

“Having failed to secure adequate electoral support to rule, the (MDC-T) and its handlers are left with no other option but to attempt to violently seize power from a legitimate government,” said Chombo. Nehanda Radio