via Mujuru hints at new role – NewsDay Zimbabwe June 2, 2015
AXED Vice-President Joice Mujuru has apologised for her role in failures by President Robert Mugabe’s administration, saying she has had time to introspect and hinted to a future role in politics away from Zanu PF.
In a statement yesterday, a subtle Mujuru said her sacking was inevitable, as she had a divergent vision for the country from those in the Zanu PF leadership.
“For my own role in this failure, I am truly sorry and I apologise to my fellow Zimbabweans,” she said.
“This humbling experience [her sacking] has afforded me an opportunity to reflect on the higher ideals of the armed struggle and with sadness, I have had to digest the many shortcomings in delivery.
“It is a time in our history for contrition and reflection, for cleansing and for divinity of faith.”
Mujuru — who has kept the nation guessing as to her next political move — said Zanu PF had descended into “a paranoid and insular organisation”, although she said she would not join the “finger-wagging class” in apportioning blame.
“We collectively failed in our basic mandate to the nation,” she said.
The former Vice-President — who was accused of plotting to assassinate Mugabe and staging a coup — said six months after her sacking, she was yet to be charged in court or face a disciplinary hearing, a clear indication that the law is “used not as an instrument of justice, but as a blunt weapon for silencing dissenting voices”.
Mujuru has in recent weeks been attacked for not standing up for her supporters who were axed in the aftermath of Zanu PF’s congress last December, but she insists that she will not challenge Mugabe — whom she viewed as her “father” — on a public platform, as this was against the ideals of the liberation struggle and an affront to her culture.
In the statement, pregnant with innuendo, Mujuru says she has resolved to serve the nation in whatever role God apportions her, before contemplating on her future and imagining scenarios for the country.
In the scenarios she puts across, Mujuru makes nuances to “people first” — a term used by a group of axed Zanu PF members whom she has been linked to — something which some may say is an indicator of where her political future lay.
“Imagine [a] nation, where the leaders embraced its greatest asset, people, first,” she wrote.
“Imagine our nation where we put country, people first and everything else afterwards.”
Mujuru goes on to imagine a country where freedom of expression and association are enjoyed without fear of reprisals, before rhetorically asking if “this is too much to imagine”.
Mugabe’s former deputy said her expulsion from government and Zanu PF was initially devastating and she felt betrayed, but she had time to introspect before her next move.
Mujuru, who was Mugabe’s deputy for 10 years and a member of Zanu PF for 42 years, was expelled from the party following a brutal purge of her and her supporters after they were accused of plotting against the President.
First Lady Grace Mugabe, who led the onslaught, said if Mujuru were to die, her carcass would not be disturbed by dogs and fleas, a statement that sent shockwaves, but which Information minister Jonathan Moyo backhandedly described as just political banter.
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