The President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mmangagwa, has warned “meddlesome” Britain to mind its business and face its own problems instead of poking its nose into the affairs of his country through “contrived stories and false oppositional narratives.”

Mnangagwa who was responding to claims by British House of Lords representatives that the governing Zanu PF party was targeting the opposition, said the country’s former colonial masters had more than enough problems to face back home and has no right to tell Zimbabwe, a sovereign nation, what to do and how to run its affairs.

In a statement on Tuesday through his spokesman, George Charamba, President Mnangagwa, said the UK has been trying to control the country in the past but that it was time they focused on their own troubles.

Charamba noted that the British, “through their sponsored opposition and non-governmental organisations, have been desperately trying to block the passage of the Private and Voluntary Organisation (PVO) Bill, because according to it, and erroneously so, it infringes on constitutional liberties. But the Bill is actually seeking to end money laundering and rein in foreign funding of local politics.”

President Mnangagwa who has insisted that nothing will stop the Bill from being passed, said “come rain or sunshine, the Bill would be passed following the laws of this country.

“The PVO Bill, which they are fretting about, will be passed. It is a Zimbabwean law, meant to deal with a Zimbabwean situation and it will proceed that way.

“However, we also thank them, the British government and the House of Lords, for confirming that they continue to meddle in our own affairs.

“The British Lords should not be in the habit of writing fiction about Zimbabwe in order to debate it. They have so much on their plate, there is their soaring inflation at home, there are certain oddities that are happening within their own Parliament, they have blowbacks relating to their exit of Europe, not to mention what is happening in Eastern Europe and of course, their own domestic policy which gets them to want to use foreign affairs as a red herring.

“When you go through the things they allege are happening in Zimbabwe, you cannot but wonder if their embassy here is of any use at all. Nothing that they are raising or debating approximates the reality on the ground.

“Anyway, the point must be made and made instantly that in 1980, Zimbabwe got independence and has absolutely nothing to do with the British, (which is) made worse by the fact that the British, in their lack of wisdom, decided to slap Zimbabwe with sanctions it does not deserve. Can you imagine if the European Union was to invoke its own values and expectations with respect to Britain after Brexit?

“Why do they think we still stand beholden to a colonial power we ousted from this country? How do they stand in loco parenthesis (in the place of a parent) to us?

“They must mind their own business, they cut relations with us (and) we got nothing from them except for their own pestering and to that extent, we don’t pay attention to what they are saying.”