Western aid is used to manipulate – analyst

Financial aid given to Zimbabwe by the EU was a tool for influencing and manipulating the country’s recent elections, political analyst Kudzai Mutusi told RT on Friday.  

The aid, which was given by the EU to the Zimbabwean electoral commission “was not really in good faith,” Mutusi stated. “They were using it to manipulate and coerce this Zimbabwean electoral commission so that they may achieve their own foreign policy goals,” he added. 

“No one asked them for the money, they brought it voluntarily and with the aim of trying to have some influence on the elections when that didn’t happen they are throwing a tantrum,” the political analyst claimed. 

Zimbabwe held general elections in August to elect the president and legislators. The incumbent president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, retained his post by defeating challenger Nelson Chamisa in elections in which allegations of irregularities emerged.  

The EU announced on Tuesday that it will not provide $5 million in financial support to Zimbabwe due to the country’s disputed elections, which were criticized for lacking independence and transparency. 

Mnangagwa criticized covert actions in Africa by Western countries during his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday.

He also condemned the use of “unilateral” and “illegal” sanctions as a foreign policy tool, citing those imposed on Zimbabwe and Cuba.