FORMER Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo has queried the credibility of an explanation given by vice president Constantino Chiwenga that skin ailment has made him and light-skinned.
Chiwenga, the retired defence forces chief who led the coup which toppled nonagenarian former president Robert Mugabe, has earned new nicknames over the perceptible change in his complexion.
He has mockingly been referred to as ‘Bleachy Chiwenga’ and ‘General Ambi’.
Former Zanu PF politburo member Prof Jonathan Moyo took part in the mockery on Twitter where has bitterly criticised Chiwenga and president Emmerson Mnangagwa over the November coup.
Moyo, a Mugabe loyalist, has remained in exile since escaping what he described as an assassination attempt on the night of the coup.
However, Chiwenga told a gathering at the burial of his sister Margaret Machekabuwe in Marondera this Wednesday that he is stuggling with a skin ailment which is responsible for the lightening of his complexion.
The vice president said the problem started during the coup which the military called ‘Operation Restore Legacy’.
He said the same ailment was also affecting his wife, Mary, adding that he was under treatment using herbs after the family “failed to get the medicine in South Africa”.
Prof Moyo said although it was sad to learn of Chiwenga’s condition, it was curious that the disease, which is supposed to be non-contagious, had made both him and his wife sad.
“Nhuta (skin disease) sickness the cause of Chiwenga’s bleached skin #Herald 9 May 2018,” said the former cabinet minister on Twitter.
“If nhuta caused Chiwenga’s bleached skin with reports of blood cancer, then it’s noted. Sorry. But it’s just incredulous that Chiwenga and Mary contracted nhuta at the same time!” – News Zim
