A video clip of under-fire Vice-President Emmerson Mnanagwa urging first lady Grace Mugabe to up her attacks against her predecessor Joice Mujuru has gone viral.
The video shot at the height of Grace’s blitz against Mujuru in 2014, which forced the liberation war heroine to throw in the towel, seems to have been given a new meaning after President Robert Mugabe’s wife on September 9 warned Mnangagwa that he could go the same way as the former VP.
Mujuru was accused of plotting to topple Mugabe and of allegedly being corrupt. Mnangagwa is now facing similar charges as the battle to succeed the 93-year-old ruler intensifies.
Our reporter Blessed Mhlanga (BM) on Friday spoke to Mujuru (JM) about the latest upheavals in the ruling party and she had some advice for Mnangagwa.
The National People’s Party president said the Zanu PF Midlands strongman must just resign and join the swelling opposition ranks than endure abuse by junior people in the ruling party.
Below is the full interview.
BM: Zanu PF appears to be imploding. They are turning against each other especially at public events, but many would have thought you were the problem and that your sacking would have brought peace to the party.
JM: The events taking place in Zanu PF give credence to the adage that “what goes around comes around”.
Clearly, the unrestrained onslaught on Mnangagwa and his supporters is a free lesson to all willing to learn the politics where Mugabe and his wife only use their supporters when it suits the matrix of the Gushungo dynasty.
Critical lessons emerge as demonstrated.
BM: During your days in Zanu PF, you were accused of witchcraft by first lady Grace Mugabe and her husband. Witchcraft is now an issue again after the alleged poisoning of Mnangagwa and this has angered the first family. Does this make sense to you?
JM: It smacks of hypocrisy and deceit of the highest order that when Mugabe and wife accuse others of attempted murder and witchcraft, they do so recklessly, with their blind followers ululating and clapping hands like kindergarten kids notwithstanding the devastating consequences of defaming and demeaning one’s social standing.
Regrettably, the likes of Mnangagwa celebrated when I was being maligned because in his view, an opportunity had arisen for him to be the shoo-in successor to Mugabe.
BM: In Gweru Mugabe said there is no witchcraft and pointed out that accusing each other of witchcraft was unAfrican, but they labelled you one.
JM: Surprisingly, when these allegations that Mnangagwa ate poisoned ice-cream from the Gushungo dairy were made, Mugabe and his wife got so angry and agitated.
When I faced allegations of the same nature, they used to demean me. Dindingwe rinonaka richakweva rimwe asi kana iro rokwevewa zvonzi mavara azare ivhu [some people enjoy soiling others’ names and when it is their turn, they cry foul].
Mugabe is just the recipient of the hate language that he preaches, with his wife being the goddess of the same.
As for Mnangagwa he should learn kuti ukasekerera benzi richigeza rinomhanya risina kupfeka pane vanhu [if youencourage a mentally unstable person in whatever they are doing, they will do the unthinkable].
The same people he celebrated are now on a daily routine of teaching him what it means to be a blind follower of a dynasty.
BM: Mnangagwa is captured in a video urging on Grace as she tore into you. He called her “Dr. Stop It” who was able to stop you, now the same is visiting him. Are you happy with the turn of events in Zanu PF?
JM: It’s unfortunate that during my hostile ejection, Mnangagwa celebrated by telling people that he got to know that Mujuru wanted to kill the president from Dr Stop it, but [she] is now haunting him.
If he believed baseless allegations that were levelled against Dr Mujuru by Mugabe and his wife, should the public then believe the rumour mill that he nearly killed a TV personality by making him choose to either sit on a hot stove or jump through the window of a high-rise building just because of a clash over a girlfriend?
Should the public say “stop it… stop it…?” You don’t celebrate when an evil act visits upon an innocent sister for the leopard will never change its spots.
What people also found amazing is that Mnangagwa, a lawyer by training, would publicly corroborate falsehoods against the established legal ethics that one is presumed innocent till proven guilty by a competent court of law.
If Mnangagwa was in legal practice, he would by now be a very senior lawyer by any stretch of imagination.
It is such misguided thinking that has made Mnangagwa vulnerable to the Gushungo vultures.
BM: Grace has been spewing hate speech and recently she allegedly attacked a model in South Africa. Do you have any words of advice for her?
JM: Events in South Africa and the eventual allegations of use of an extension cord by Grace were unfortunate, to say the least.
A first lady who always chides grown up men and women during rallies exposes to the world the type of a first lady the country has. [To say to the president’s spokesperson] “Iwe [you] George iwe…George” is disrespectful. We definitely miss our departed Sally.
BM: What are your thoughts on the problems that Mnangagwa and his camp are facing now?
JM: That there is no peace in Zanu PF is now a matter of public knowledge. In any event, a party that is built on a recipe of false allegations and conspiracy theories can never be a home of peace and unity.
How can peace be realised when nobody can explain what happened to the late retired General [Solomon] Mujuru?
How can peace prevail when young girls who were 19 years at independence publicly torment and embarrass heroines of the land?
Clearly, the unfolding tragic drama is just an act of God for truth is never defeated by evil. Mwari vanoziva chokwadi [God knows the truth].
BM: There was a time the party appeared to be united when you were part of it, but now there is chaos.
JM: Why is it that since the day Mujuru left the Zanu PF party has not known peace? Very simple, I was indeed a caring and uniting mother and not a goddess of violence.
Come 2018, Zimbabweans have an opportunity to stop the Gushungo dynasty.
BM: Any advice for Mnangagwa?
JM: As for Ngwena, it’s time to resign and openly join colleagues in the trenches of the electoral battle against this ill-fated dynasty.
Free advice Cde [Mnangagwa]is that no matter how you hope to continue putting lipstick on a frog hoping that it will become a queen, it won’t.
At least such a courageous act would redeem some semblance of honour and dignity to Ngwena if at all any still remains.
BM: Do you still respect Mugabe as a father figure after all this mess?
JM: Given the foregoing, respect is earned and is never cast in stone.
As more of the evil appears on the horizon, misplaced notions are bound to evolve in the opposite.
Not all that we thought were genuine father figures are indeed, so as truth supercedes any iota of deceit.
