OPPOSITION leader Nelson Chamisa aimed to land the post of Prime Minister in a Government of National Unity (GNU) with Zanu-PF leader President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the rival opposition camp leader Thokozani Khupe has claimed.
“On January 5, 2018 Nelson Chamisa took Mnangagwa to visit the late Tsvangirai. The previous year (on) November 24, 2017 Chamisa attended the inauguration of Mnangagwa, but later on dismissed him as a coup President,” Khupe said through her spokesperson Khalipani Phugeni, in an interview with the NewsDay.
“On April 18, 2018, Chamisa and his friends attended the Independence celebrations presided over by Mnangagwa.
“In all these instances, there is a presumption that Chamisa is involved in some noble national engagement with Mnangagwa for the good of the nation and no one must so much impute bad motive by even suggesting that Chamisa was on an individual selfish errand to land a GNU which he will be appointed Prime Minister.
“As long as there was hope of (Mnangagwa) appointing Chamisa and his grouping to the national executive of the country there was no coup. (The late former President Robert) Mugabe resigned legally and the promise of the second republic was true,” Phugeni said.
He added that Khupe has been a victim of malicious media articles which sought to portray Chamisa as seeking the national good each time he met with Mnangagwa or attended State functions, while Khupe is portrayed as a puppet when she does the same.
“Zanu PF was pristine and association with Mugabe and his G40 was evil and treasonous, hence the spurious attempt to link Khupe and others to Mugabe and his G40.
“We know now that actually it’s the G40 and Mugabe who were pristine, according to Chamisa and his group and engaging a duly-elected President of the republic is not only scandalous, but a betrayal of “the struggle”.
Phugeni adds that “a large part of what Chamisa’s camp did to Khupe is pure bigotry, tribalism and patriarchy.
“I mean just look at the 2018 elections, on paper and on past performance in terms of governance no one comes close to Khupe’s record, yet we all know what the media did to her in terms of malicious articles. The State looked the other way, when an attempt on her life was carried out on several occasions.
“It is the same malicious campaign I have been speaking to. Khupe did not meet Mnangagwa until after the elections and the Constitutional Court had confirmed his electoral win. At a Press conference, she held immediately after the election, she said “the elections were free of violence, but they were not fair”.
“She went on to make the case (as to) why they didn’t pass the standard of fairness, but as a democrat she needed to be magnanimous even in loss and congratulate the winner as she would have expected the same had she prevailed, hence you saw her at that (Mnangagwa) inauguration ceremony.
“Now juxtapose her position to that of her detractors; on January 5, 2018 Nelson Chamisa takes Mnangagwa to visit the late Tsvangirai…,” Khupe’s spokesperson fumed.
Chamisa lost the 2018 elections to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and mounted a court petition which he went on to lose, but does not recognize. He was also offered by Mnangagwa a position of Leader of Opposition in Parliament and spurned the offer saying he only wanted his “keys to the State House”.
When Zanu-PF remained unyielding, Chamisa later on turned around and said he wanted dialogue with the Zanu-PF leader.
Regarding how Khupe funded her 2018 elections campaign, Phugeni said she had to sell some of her personal assets to get the campaign off to a start.
“She funded it by liquidating her assets and she was not the only one who did that. I personally sold one of my cars to fund my campaign,” said Phugeni.
He denied claims of a spirited social media campaign that Khupe is seeking to end Chamisa’s political career out of envy and jealous.
“Khupe is a devout Catholic and she knows the scriptures too well to entertain such self-destructive thoughts.
“On reports that she performed rituals on Tsvangirai’s grave, no, it is not true. What they did is exactly what Chamisa and friends have done. Basically, go to the grave and supposedly “speak” to the late president.”
According to Phugeni, Khupe is mounting a strong opposition campaign against Zanu-PF in the 2024 harmonised elections.
“… Her job is not made easy by a very biased private media which is yet to come to terms with its role in undermining the efforts of the true struggle against Zanu-PF,” Phugeni reckons.
Meanwhile, Khupe maintains that Harvest House is the citadel of the MDC and she is happy to be finally back at the building which is the symbol of opposition politics and the fight for democracy in Zimbabwe. – Zimbabwe Voice