ZIMBABWE’S RULING regime yesterday publicly accused neighbouring Botswana of supporting an alleged plot by its political rivals, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), to overthrow President Robert Mugabe’s government.
Quoted in the state-run Herald newspaper, justice minister Patrick Chinamasa accused Botswana, the ruling regime’s harshest regional critic, of facilitating the training of MDC youths in military camps who would be used to destabilise the country “to effect illegal regime change”.
Mr Chinamasa also said that there was “compelling evidence” that Botswana had allowed itself to become “a surrogate of western imperial powers . . . and that it has decided to be a destabilising factor in the region”.
No details of the “evidence” were given, but Mr Chinamasa added that the matter was now in the hands of the Southern African Development Community’s politics and defence organ, known as the “troika”.
Botswana foreign affairs spokesman Clifford Maribe has denied the allegations, telling reporters that Botswana “has made its position very clear that it will never let its territory be used to launch attacks”.
According to Mr Maribe, the Zimbabwean government first made the accusation against Botswana in early November, at which time they invited an SADC team of investigators to visit and establish the whereabouts of the camps in question.
However, the troika has yet to publish its findings.
In recent months Botswana’s president Ian Khama has made it clear that he does not recognise Mr Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party as the legitimate government in Zimbabwe, even going as far as to boycott regional summits when the 84-year-old has attended.
He has also called for an internationally supervised re-run of last June’s presidential runoff between Mr Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The MDC yesterday denied any involvement in the alleged plan to overthrow Mr Mugabe, saying that the ruling regime was lying about the plot so it could have grounds to institute a state of emergency.
The number of deaths in a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe has risen to 978, the United Nations said yesterday. Issuing the figures, the world body’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the number of suspected cases stood at 18,413. – (Additional reporting: Reuters)
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