Mutasa’s double face exposed

via Mutasa’s double face exposed | The Herald November 21, 2014

FOLLOWING shocking revelations that Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Cde Didymus Mutasa told a girlfriend that if President Mugabe continued blocking Vice President Dr Joice Mujuru from ascending to the presidency he will be shot, new details have emerged which not only corroborate the revelation but indicate that something quite ominous was afoot in the higher echelons of the ruling party.

The revelations show that VP Mujuru and Cde Mutasa in particular have been working closely on a multi-pronged approach to use foul means to oust President Mugabe with assassination as one of the options on the table.

The other was to systematically manipulate all structures through vote rigging and vote buying to ensure control of the electoral college so as to be able to boo President Mugabe and oust him through a vote of no confidence from the floor.

Investigations by The Herald over the past week have revealed that on two occasions outside Zimbabwe, Cde Mutasa poured his heart out to three different sources, two of whom who have since deposed affidavits seen by The Herald, that he despises President Mugabe with a passion and wants him out.

While attending a meeting of former liberation movements hosted by the ANC in South Africa from September 9 to 11, Cde Mutasa – who was in the company of one other person – intimated that “they”, meaning the Mujuru faction, were disgruntled that President Mugabe had decided to withdraw his support for Dr Mujuru to succeed him but had not explained to “them” why he had reached that decision, and as a result “they” were very bitter with him.

VP Mujuru, however, faces a slew of allegations of corruption, extortion, bribery, abuse of office and undermining the office of the President that have led to a cacophony of calls from the Women’s League, youths, students, war veterans and the rank and file of the revolutionary party for her resignation.

While attending an exchange meeting with the MPLA in Angola between October 13 and 18, Cde Mutasa – who was in the company of three other people among them Cde Munacho Mutezo – relaxed his guard saying he was bitter that President Mugabe had humiliated him in public at the Youth and Women’s League conferences, when he blamed him for the administrative and managerial ineptitude that almost scuttled the two elective conferences.

“Cde Mutasa said he was very bitter that HE admonished him publicly. He went on to say that he thinks President Mugabe is a dictator who is in the habit of imposing his ideas on people and that this had been going on for too long without being challenged,’’ said a source in one of the affidavits.

Turning to the succession question, Cde Mutasa is said to have vowed that if President Mugabe insisted on blocking the ascendancy of Mai Mujuru, they would take him out.

“This time we are ready to show him at Congress, he knows very well that he has no support, Mnangagwa has no support and the support is with us. So, if he refuses to listen to the majority, we will take him out,’’ Cde Mutasa is quoted as saying.

The source said Cde Mutasa revealed that he had absolute contempt of President Mugabe.

“When Cde Mutasa went to Angola in the company of Deputy Minister Mutezo, they routinely spoke contemptuously about President Mugabe and bragged about the Mujuru plot to oust him,’’ said the other source.

To demonstrate the extent of the contempt Cde Mutasa and his inner circle have for President Mugabe, the source revealed that even Cde Mutasa’s aides now have absolutely no respect for the President.

‘’They now routinely refer to themselves as the incoming team, quite often quipping that after December they will be in the East Wing of Munhumutapa Building,’’ the source said.

Cde Mutasa’s nephew, who boasts of being one of his closest confidantes, was also quoted telling a colleague in reference to President Mugabe’s two-hour meeting with Cde Mutasa on the sidelines of the 281st Ordinary meeting of the Politburo on October 24 that: ‘‘Manje mudhara akatosara uya uya. PaCongress ari kutsvairwa. Mudhara Didymus vakatobata mastructures ese. Mudhara Didymus akati akakandira Bob mapepa eagenda yePolitburo ndobva abuda aakuenda asina kutaura naye. Mudhara Bob ndobva abvunza kuti ko VaMutasa chii? VaMutasa vakati ‘mukadzi wako!’’

Cde Mutasa is also said to have co-ordinated attempts to frustrate First Lady Amai Mugabe’s “Meet the People” rallies on the phone from Angola when he was overheard asking someone on the phone about placards for the anti-First Lady demonstration that was planned by ousted Harare provincial chairman Amos Midzi to coincide with President Mugabe’s arrival from Rome where he had gone for a beatification ceremony.

Cde Mutasa wanted to know whether the placards were in place.

And regarding the disturbances at the First Lady’s rally in Marondera, Cde Mutasa and Cde Mutezo were heard bragging openly that: “This time we are ready for her. Ari kusangana nazvo zvakamumirira kuMash East. Ndokwazviri kunoperera ikoko.’’

This corroborates earlier revelations by Cde Mutasa’s girlfriend that if President Mugabe continues blocking VP Mujuru’s ascendancy he will be shot.

The revelations have led to growing calls that even with the benefit of the doubt; it is untenable for someone harbouring such thoughts to continue working closely with the President firstly as the administrator of the party, and in Government as Presidential Affairs Minister as that gives him an opportunity to carry out his threats.

Analysts have queried out why the security agencies are not doing anything about such revelations though they seem encumbered by the fact that Cde Mutasa’s ministerial brief gives him oversight over state security amid reports that the lower ranks were quite concerned that their boss can be used like that against his principal.

‘’It is a very worrying development,’’ said a source close to developments, ‘’History is replete with the pattern where the most trusted lieutenant became the most dangerous against their principals.’’

Efforts to get comment from Cdes Mutasa and Mutezo were fruitless last night.