EXILED former cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo has warned President Emmerson Mnangagwa is digging his own political grave by attempting to oust his highly ambitious deputy, Constantino Chiwenga.
Chiwenga, who led the November 2017 coup that toppled late leader Robert Mugabe and ushered in Mnangagwa, is said to be fending off attacks from the Mnangagwa faction which fears he might want his top post in 2023.
The two coup protagonists fell out immediately after colluding to get rid of Mugabe, mainly over succession issues.
Moyo, who was part of Mnangagwa’s rival Generation 40 faction the time, escaped at the height of the coup and has remained outside the country since then.
In a Twitter post, Moyo said Chiwenga’s role in Mnangagwa’s power grab was done and Mnangagwa had used him just as he had used others in the past.
“History repeating itself as a farce. People in Zanu PF need to wake up and smell the coffee. Some of us learnt our lessons about Mnangagwa’s treachery in 2004; after the so-called Tsholotsho Declaration. Emmerson is a user. In short, he is a snake. He used Chiwenga in 2017,” Moyo wrote.
The Tsholotsho Declaration was a clandestine meeting organised by a faction loyal to Mnangagwa in 2004 to plot his ascent to Zanu PF and national presidency.
In another tweet, Moyo said: “Dear Mnangagwa, your clansmen in Zanu PF are mobilising dirty tricks against your deputy in government, who is also one of your two deputies in your party. You do not need me of all people to warn you that you are playing a dangerous game, as good as digging your own political grave!”
“Mnangagwa carried out a coup to grab power, lying that he is bringing in a new dispensation and a new Republic to end what used to happen in the Mugabe days; yet he is doing the same and, in some cases, doing worse. In African countries where a president’s source of the presidency is a powerful vice president and not a democratic election; that president’s tenure is a borrowed one, and thus can be ended anytime. That is what happened to Mugabe after he made Mnangagwa, who was his source of power, a vice president,” the eminent political science professor said. – Newzim
