On Sunday Emmerson Mnangagwa, or whoever is tweeting in his name, laughed off a claim by First Lady Grace Mugabe that he planted people in the crowd in Bulawayo to boo her, something that upset her husband President Robert Mugabe to tell a rally in Bulawayo that if he made a mistake of appointing Mnangagwa as one of his deputies he would remove him the following day.
According to a tweet reproduced on ED Mnangagwa’s twiiter page, The Herald reported: “Yesterday, the VP planted people in the crowd (in Bulawayo) to boo me. But I am a hard core. I am made of steel,” says Amai #supersunday
Mnangagwa responded: “kkk baba vangu shumba ndazipigwa. paranoia zvainoitisa vanhu. zvotoda muteuro dai vanamadzibaba vabva vakubatirai muteuro ipapo demon ribude.”
Instead of the demon coming out, it is Mnangagwa who is out.
Grace has won the first round and is having her last laugh.
Party provinces are already endorsing her to become the party vice-president and ultimately the country’s Vice-President.
But the special congress is still five weeks away.
Mnangagwa who was accused of remaining silent while turmoil rocked the party has said on his twitter handle that he is going nowhere.
“my conscience obliges me to uphold the code of conduct of my beloved party i refuse to be drawn into a shameful public political circus,” he tweeted on Sunday.
“i will go nowhere, i will fight tooth & nail against those making a mockery of ZanuPF’s founding principles, ethos & values.
“those who violate our party code of conduct because they think they’ve outgrown ZanuPF are free to go&form their own bedroom dynasties.”
ZANU-PF provinces that were once believed to be loyal to Mnangagwa have started drafting resolutions to have him fired from the party.
It is therefore not clear whether he is still going nowhere or as Grace Mugabe said he is now just a walking grave.
Some war veterans, however, say the dismissal of Mnangagwa has paved the way for him to reclaim the party as he stated in his tweet and bring it back to its founding principles, ethos and values.
It is not clear whether this is not just wishful thinking as all structures are now being run by the so-called G40 faction of ZANU-PF and those who are believed to be behind Mnangagwa, the war veterans led by Christopher Mutsvangwa were expelled from the party.
Asked whether ZANU-PF was not facing the same danger that affected founding parties in Kenya where the Kenya African National Union, Malawi where the Malawi Congress Party and Zambia where the United National Independence Party, died with the founding leader, one war veteran said ZANU-PF was different.
“KANU, MCC and UNIP were all nationalist parties. ZANU-PF is a liberation party. War veterans will not allow it to collapse or die,” he said.
War veterans secretary-general, Victor Matemadanda at one time said Mugabe had lost direction because he must be watching who is cheering him whether it is those whom he was with during the liberation struggle or not.
He said Mugabe can do whatever he wants with ZANU, but not with ZANU-PF because ZANU belonged to anyone but the PF belongs to the liberation fighters, both former ZANLA and former ZIPRA.
As they say when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
While leaders of ZANU-PF are squabbling, it is the people, whom they claim to represent, that are suffering. – Insider
