Moyo wants to be president: Mutsvangwa

Source: Moyo wants to be president: Mutsvangwa – DailyNews Live

Fungi Kwaramba      14 March 2017

HARARE – Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo – one of the fiercest
critics of Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa – is being groomed by the
Generation 40 (G40) faction to become the next Zanu PF leader, war
veterans’ leader Chris Mutsvangwa has claimed.

Mutsvangwa, chairperson of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans
Association (ZNLWVA), said Moyo is a “traitor”, adding that the G40
faction, also linked to First Lady Grace Mugabe, has now unleashed its
“parrots” in the form of Manicaland State minister Mandi Chimene to attack
genuine ex-freedom fighters.

“Jonathan Moyo: once a traitor always a traitor…I exposed his wartime
desertion. I am thwarting his attempt to take over party leadership,” he
said yesterday.

“We are checking G40 ambitions to surreptitiously usurp power using the
cloak of illicit access to the apex of power as they take advantage of the
advanced age of the president (Robert Mugabe) of the republic,” he said.

This comes as Mugabe, in power since independence 1980, is now getting
increasingly frail.

Speculation over his health has triggered a frenzied succession battle in
Zanu PF pitting the G40 faction and Team Lacoste, which has been linked to
Mnangagwa.

Reacting angrily to a State media columnist going by the moniker Bishop
Lazarus, who described war veterans as “puppies”, Mutsvangwa claimed that
the G40 faction, fiercely opposed to Mnangagwa’s ascendency, is now
propping Moyo up to become the country’s next president.

Asked whether war veterans are “puppies”, Mutsvangwa retorted: “They
(ex-freedom fighters) are full blown grey hounds, bulldogs and
Rottweilers. Ian Smith learnt that to his great political and military
cost.”

“As war veterans, we are naturally more alert and vigilant because of
historical pedigree,” he said.

Last week, the war veterans appeared to touch a raw nerve when they vowed
to proceed with their meeting that they rescheduled for Friday,
notwithstanding that it is not sanctioned by police.

Despite backing down on their earlier decision to dump Mugabe as their
patron, the war veterans remain renegades in the eyes of the ruling party,
with the nonagenarian leader reportedly angry at their continued attacks
on his leadership.

During his 93rd birthday interview, Mugabe said Mutsvangwa is one of the
few people in Zanu PF who criticise his rule, as he dismissed the
country’s opposition parties as good as dead.

The former freedom fighters – whose national executive is recognised at
law – claim there is an attempt to grab power from Mugabe through a
bedroom coup.

Mutsvangwa also fired volleys at the rival war veterans association led by
Chimene.

He particularly took umbrage with her claims in the State media that he
deserted the liberation struggle and was always a rebel.

“…Chimene is not a war veteran…she is creating her own Mutsvangwa. I
was never arrested as Vashandi.

“Every night at 8pm I broadcasted on Voice of Zimbabwe from Radio
Mozambique as of 1977. I came back to Rhodesia on the same flight as the
president in 1979.

“…Chimene is a parrot voice of Moyo, the deserter and traitor,” he said.

In the past, Mutsvangwa has sensationally claimed that Mugabe is now being
held hostage by the G40 faction which is now preventing him from executing
his government duties.

While the Team Lacoste faction has openly declared that its preferred
candidate to succeed Mugabe is Mnangagwa, the G40 faction has been pushing
for Mugabe to continue even beyond next year’s watershed elections.

Moyo did not respond to questions sent to him yesterday.