An international report on the nefarious activities by the United States Agency for International Development (USAid), has named Zimbabwe as one of the countries that were targeted by the powerful organisation, whose tentacles spread all over the world.
Last month, the administration of President Donald Trump cut funding and staff from the agency, and exposed a number of its activities in foreign countries. These included sponsoring opposition parties to achieve regime change, as well as eroding moral values through promoting gay activities, some of which Mr Trump said were a waste of taxpayer money.
In Zimbabwe, USAid’s activities also included sponsoring a host of anti-government civic organisations and the so-called independent media.
And a recent report by Global Times confirmed that USAid embarked on a coordinated misinformation campaign across the world through the media, particularly targeting foreign investments.
“USAid was also found to have been largely engaged in many misinformation campaigns targeting the US’ ‘rivals’ diverting substantial funds, which could have been used to develop economies and improve lives in areas of need, toward despicable cognitive warfare tactics,” the Global Times said in the first part of a series of researches it has conducted.
It explained that in September 2024, US Congress authorized appropriations for “Countering the People’s Republic of China Malign Influence Fund,” which planned to appropriate $325 million for each of the fiscal years between 2023 and 2027 – $1.625 billion in total – to counter the so-called maligning influence of China.
According to the report many actions to “badmouth” China might have been carried out globally under such programmes.
States the report, “In September 2021, for instance, Zimbabwe’s largest daily newspaper, The Herald, revealed that the US was funding and training local reporters to write anti-China stories and discredit Chinese investments, Xinhua reported in October that year.”
The Global Times report documents a number of aspects of nefarious activities carried out by the USAid through local proxies including political interference, conditional aid, regime change tactics, surveillance and espionage and dependency creation.
Regarding disbursement of its huge funding warchest, the report finds out that despite earmarking money for some countries, a significant chunk would be channeled back to America – which is now subject to credible claims of fraud and money laundering against bureaucrats made by the Trump administration.
According to Global Times, “Earlier [in January 2023], a January USAid report recapping 2024 stated that, about 12.1 percent of all USAID funding goes directly to local organizations in foreign countries, including NGOs, the private sector, and government partners.
“More of its expenditures were reportedly spent back in the US.”
Zimbabwean analysts and experts contacted by this publication to respond to the revelations noted the power of media as a tool of manipulation, which the USAid controlled.
“The allegations reflect a continuing trend in the use of media for misinformation purposes with the intent of furthering the US global dominance,” Dr Ronald Chipaike, an expert in International Relations and lecturer at the Bindura University of Science Education said.
“In short, it’s part of a larger geopolitical strategy to paint China’s relationship with African and developing countries in a negative light,” he explained.
Dr Chipaike noted that cutting of funding from USAid could lead to European countries trying to fill the gap to influence countries where China has influence, adding this should elicit countermeasures from Beijing.
“China needs to be more aggressive in pushing the correct narrative and also more hands on in solving the prevailing maladies associated with its global expansion,” Dr Chipaike said.
Another expert, head at Africa University’s Department of International Relations, Dr Alexander Rusero, said the “Sinophobia narrative” peddled by the USAid was part of a “shock-and-knock” strategy whereby the US would bombard citizens in target countries to pave way for hostile interference or regime change.
This, he explained, took place in places in such countries as Iraq and Libya where a media onslaught against leaders of those countries preceded their violent removal.
But Dr Rusero cautioned that the dismantling of USAid would not mean the end of US’ interference in foreign countries and attempts to contain China, as the fight for its control was an internal power struggle within the US’ Republicans and Democrats.
“China remains the biggest elephant in the room in the United States of America’s foreign policy ventures,” he said.
He said there would remain other “calculated manoeuvres” in areas like trade and soft diplomacy outside media manipulation.
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