War vets speak on Gumbo’s past, present

via War vets speak on Gumbo’s past, present | The Herald November 5, 2014

Zanu-PF secretary for Information and Publicity Cde Rugare Gumbo’s devious behaviour of misrepresenting facts about the revolutionary party is not surprising since it has been his character since the times of the liberation struggle, war veterans have said.

Cde Gumbo has come under fire for being biased on factional lines, misrepresenting facts on the outcome of the Politburo meetings, with Midlands and Matabeleland North provinces this week saying he was no longer fit to remain as party spokesperson.

Cde Gumbo was among coup plotters that were captured at Inchope, Mozambique in 1978, “prosecuted and convicted” for attempting to dethrone President Mugabe.

As such, war veterans said, Cde Gumbo was an untrustworthy party member with a history of “treacherous conduct”.

They also called for the removal of Cde Gumbo from his post in the Politburo.

Masvingo war veterans’ provincial chairman Cde Francis Nando said people like Cde Gumbo were “strategic agents” of the whites who wanted to effect illegal regime change.

“I joined the liberation struggle later than others, but experience tells me that there were sellouts like Rugare Gumbo,” he said.

“First, there was a group of Cde (Thomas) Nhari and if you look at it they were working with some Rhodesians. Then came Cde Gumbo’s group that turned against the party. They were sacked and handed over to Frelimo to keep them until independence.

“It is not surprising that he (Gumbo) is now again part of the third group that wants to turn against President Mugabe and if you look at it there are whites like Eric Little (US embassy second secretary in charge of the parliamentary section) involved. This tells us that these are strategic agents who want to destroy President Mugabe’s legacy.”

War veteran Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa said Cde Gumbo wanted to be “putchist” all the way to old age.

“His unbridled ambition saw him among anti-party coup plotters captured at Inchope, Mozambique,” he said. “It would appear clairvoyant Rugare Gumbo cannot just shake away his penchant for clumsy political malevolence.

“He had a very brief useful period of re-entry into the struggle in 1977-78 before he found his way back to prison before the end of the war.”

Ambassador Mutsvangwa said for peddling falsehoods, Cde Gumbo had become VP Mujuri’s faction spin doctor and should be fired. “Caught between love of a faction and loyalty to President Mugabe he should just resign or be shown the door,” he said. “Where will he stop next with this dangerous folly? God forbid he can announce a new supreme national leader out of his own head. He is clearly a menacing national security threat calling for urgent redress.”

Another war veteran from the Midlands province Cde Joseph Serima said once a sellout one would always remain a sellout until death.

“Shiri ine muririro wayo haiurege,” he said. “What is being said about his treacherous conduct is true and it is not proper to misrepresent things that would have been said by the party.”

Cde George Matenda, who worked in the security department during the liberation struggle, said Cde Gumbo’s loyalty to the party had always been questionable.

“This is not his first time,” he said. “After he had been captured for turning against the party in Mozambique, the whole top party hierarchy came and they tried and convicted them.

“Ndopakatanga kunzi pasi naye (Cde Gumbo). Some were of the opinion that he be killed, but it was later decided that he be detained until independence. They were only released as an amnesty condition raised by Ian Smith at the Lancaster House conference and that is why when they came back home they came on their own and were not part of us. “They came because of Smith not because of Zanu-PF. So, just like someone working for a company, Cde Gumbo is just in the party to make profits not that he loves the party.”

Cde Matenda said Cde Gumbo betrayed the struggle when he cut the movement of ammunition and food in Mozambique and back home.

“He was in charge of logistics and because of his lust for power, he decided to make comrades who were at various bases suffer by cutting the supply of food and ammunition,” he said.

Cde Gumbo has on several occasions misrepresented the outcome of Politburo meetings in a bid to save his interests and those of a faction angling to topple President Mugabe as the party leader.