Harare – Zimbabwe’s state security minister on Monday alleged a plot by “rogue elements” in the opposition working with Western governments to smuggle in guns and cause chaos, signaling another possible crackdown.
Owen Ncube said the plot was part of a wider plan to oust President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government illegally.
The same accusations had been in the past against the opposition since the time of former President Robert Mugabe, usually as a precursor to a crackdown.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)’s treasurer David Coltart said the allegations were false.
“We are committed to non-violence,” he said in a tweet.
The Mnangagwa administration has detained and charged several politicians, anti-government activists and a journalist, accusing them of inciting violence and planning protests.
“Some rogue elements among us are conniving with some hostile Western governments to smuggle guns and set up so-called Democratic Resistance Committees, that are for all intents and purposes violent militia groups,” said Ncube.
“These plans are key components of ‘Operation Light House’, the brainchild of one Western power that seeks to destroy the democratic foundations of Zimbabwe, make the country ungovernable and justify foreign intervention,” he said, without naming the country accused.
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