via Oppah is the ‘chief weevil’: Dongo – DailyNews Live 2 November 2014
HARARE – Our senior writer Fungi Kwaramba (FK) chats with firebrand war veteran Margaret Dongo (MD). Below are excerpts of the interview.
FK: What is your take of the ugly fights in Zanu PF? Is the First Lady Grace Mugabe justified in her utterances?
MD: Her last meeting was too emotional. She said a lot of things about the vice president (Joice Mujuru) that she has 10 percent shares in different companies including in the Daily News, but those remain allegations. It is clear that part of the information came from the president himself and Grace being angry, spilled the beans.
In her statements, she is right because what has destroyed this country is corruption and I don’t think there is anyone against Grace when she speaks against corruption. It is how she did it and the platform she used.
FK: Why is the VP being attacked now? What has changed?
MD: We have always spoken about the legacy. The VP is suffering for the legacy of her husband. Mujuru was everything, he was a womaniser, he was corrupt, he was everything. If you go back to the history of the former combatants, he was responsible for the demobilisation funds and abused them. He bought the whole of Bindura and the president knew about this and didn’t do anything. He was involved in diamonds and now Grace has picked it up and is spilling the beans.
FK: Why is it difficult for the first lady to sympathise with Mujuru?
MD: It is not Grace’s fault, it’s Bob’s fault because he knew all along about Mujuru’s deals but was afraid to stop him right from the 1980s when he abused the demob(demobilisation) funds, now he is using the wife as the spokesperson.
FK: What was the relationship between Mugabe and Mujuru after the war?
MD: Mugabe was abused by Mujuru because he was scared of him. There is so much that Mugabe knew about Mujuru that is why the CIO is there. I remember when I was still in the CIO, I picked some information about Mujuru but nothing was done. Mugabe knew everything including information about diamonds but there was nothing that was done on the army general.
FK: Why are you so sure that Mujuru was corrupt?
MD: Honestly, how can you have a general like Mujuru hiring a Boeing plane to go on holiday in Victoria Falls? There are a lot of freedom fighters who are suffering right now and Mujuru didn’t care, he was not socially-oriented, he was concerned about pleasing his clan.
FK: So why target VP Mujuru?
MD: Those are the mistakes of Mujuru not the wife. Why are the issues coming now? Why didn’t Mugabe speak long back about these issues? The other camp is using Grace to fight their war and since she is new, she is filled with emotions and therefore goes on to attack people.
FK: Who has suffered worst from the Zanu PF public fights?
MD: It is the both the vice president and the first lady. People who didn’t know the first lady now know what kind of woman she is and are sympathetic to the vice president. Some, instead of calling her the first lady, are calling her all sorts of names because of her statements.
FK: Should the VP resign as demanded by the first lady?
MD: She is not yet declared the chairperson of the league and thus has no power to say the VP should resign. Grace is full of anger, she felt betrayed by Mai Mujuru because the person who ran forth with this was Oppah without communicating with the VP and she appeared as if she was against Grace’s rise.
FK: What was the relationship between first lady and the VP before this fallout?
MD: They were very close. I remember during the funeral (of Solomon Mujuru), Grace spent a lot of time with the VP consoling her, so in this case the chief chipfukuto ndiOppah. Oppah and her faction have created this hatred between the first lady and the vice president. The vice president, in terms of the women forum, has the highest position and ana Oppah follow below. Mugabe allowed Oppah to bypass the vice president for selfish purposes.
FK: Going back to the struggle, who was more senior between the two Muchinguri or Mujuru?
MD: It was Mujuru.
FK: Justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa claims he is the most trusted and loyal Zanu PF cadre to Mugabe. Do you think he should succeed Mugabe?
MD: That can be proved by the electorate and not him. That’s why we are saying the president should allow for elections. If he appoints, whoever is going to be appointed will be powerless, anoitwa nhapwa because you are subject to appointment, but if you are elected by the people, you can proudly say I am a people’s product and speak your mind.
FK: Do you regret ever saying Zanu PF top guns are all Mugabe’s wives?
MD: If they do not stand up against Mugabe then I have no regrets to say they remain Mugabe’s wives.
FK: What is your understanding of the factions, zvipfukuto (weevils) and gamatox?
MD: Zvipfukuto are those people who are corrupt who eat and destroy. Chikapinda muchibage chako chinosara chava hupfu and if you take gamatox, it kills zvipfukuto asi pane zvimwe zvinosara. The scenario is that there are some who are corrupt but there was a counter approach by the zvipfukuto accusing the gamatox of being corrupt.
FK: The first lady has said as a Zimbabwean, she has a right to aspire for any leadership position, do you see her going for a higher post?
MD: Yes, she has every right but it is a question of whether people are fools just to be ridden on their backs. If you look at the case yaMai Mugabe ndeye kupinda nepadumbu, short cut. I am coming to like her because she has dared men in Zanu PF to stand up.
FK: Is the infighting in Zanu PF a threat to national security?
MD: It is their creation, this factionalism has divided the war vets, it is going to divide the security sector and it is going to be a threat to national security. To prevent this, the president must call for elections during congress and not appoint leaders. He should not follow his way of appointing leaders because if he appoints panoita chimoto. If he appoints, it means he will be endorsing zvipfukuto. He has to come clean. If he appoints and Oppah is seen in the politburo, what would people from gamatox say?
FK: And how do you rate the first lady, was she able to contain factionalism as she claimed?
MD: The first lady is behaving like a misguided missile, why does she call for (General Constantine) Chiwenga to come and shoot her. And why was the first lady given planes to go and say thank you to women in the provinces who did not even nominate her. She was chosen by Oppah and should have said thank you to Oppah. Who did she want to thank, because it is not the povo in Murambinda that appointed her.
FK: So why did she have these rallies?
MD: Unless if there was a strategy by a certain faction to reach out to the people, then it was hijacked. I was around when the vice president was campaigning non-stop last year and she was travelling by road. People also need to question where the money was coming from, was it sanctioned by the party. Who sanctioned the campaign? Was it the party and if not, then who funded it? It is all shrouded in corruption. The majority of people who claim to finance this are businessmen who are failing to pay their workers.
FK: Do you see Zanu PF emerging united after the congress in December?
MD: If they do not hold elections, then it will be a disaster. These gamatox and zvipfukuto are going to continue until the next elections and that will be an advantage to the opposition.
COMMENTS
This is a lovely interview,however it did not analyse the end losers and winners of the current saga within the party.I am of the opinion that the first family will win every thing by the time the saga ends as follows:-
1-The head of state has outwitted all the factions and neutralised them one by one due to their past corruption and patronage acts.He has gone to their individual past history with just limited exposure ,ready to give a well calculated final blow if that individual tries to deny it.I guarantee you that none of them will try to deny what has already been revealed about their private life style because it is all true.Most of them are now suffering mentally due to the unknown end results which entirely depend on the head of state.This is what I call good planning and calculated approach to your opponents’ weaknesses.He has used the party rules and regulations indirectly to get rid of the unwanted elements eg Jabulani Sibanda if what is reported in the press is true.
2-The people of Matabeleland are partial winners because people like Angelina Masuku have highlighted our strong purpose of unity under testing conditions and self dignity.We remain calm and focused under direct provocation with controlled self discipline.
3-There will be surprises at the party’s congress when some of the bigwigs will lose important posts and become politically useless.It is becoming obvious that most of the out spoken politicians will soon be history whether they like it or not.
4-I would be very pleased to see some of the candidates who had assumed to become VPs to lose out to new candidates.Let democracy do its job to humble some of these bigwigs who have assumed a lot in the past.
It is now clear that at least the First Lady achieved one primary goal,ie to make these bigwigs get worried in their perpetual political comfort by just revealing a few things about their past.They are now trying to out match each other in fund raising to cultivate new favours from the boss.I hope that the president will use this golden opportunity to get rid of all these non productive mps.
I do not claim to be a political science graduate but a person who applies common sense and wisdom.
a good interview but the truth is if people are nominated at congress that will be the beginning of the end of znpf
Some of us hope it will rid us of Mugabe himself. He is the President and is to blame for the 34 years of plunder. The buck stops by him. If your car gives you problems because a mechanic is failing to fix it you don’t wait 34 years to change mechanics. He created Sibanda and co and he elevated Mujuru. He knew exactley what was happening with the stealing and such. As a person from Matabeleland a very few people that I know would even rejoice at this. We just stay out of it and let dog eat dog.Hopefully they eat even each others bones.
Good views Mixed Race. The Ndebeles are an honourable nation…. Robert Mugabe typically muddies the waters for opportunities to steer the ship of state in his chosen direction. He does not really strategise as we have learned it in business or military school. He does not seem to hold any strong beliefs except those that justify the punishment of perceived enemies. He is a hateful narcissist. His style creates many enemies, and his tactical choices are driven by self-preservation therefore. Margaret Dongo qualified her answers on whether there will be elections or appointments at the Congress, which is fair to say. She also said if ZanuPF supporters are not the imbeciles we have been wishing they weren’t, they would not accept to be ‘ridden’ on their backs (As if that didn’t happen before!) by Presidential suggestions of who must be elected. For sure there will be a long-overdue remix post-Congress and fissures in the party politic that may portend a split. However, the Weevils are a very clever bunch, guided as they are by none other than Jonso the genius. They know that parties don’t usually split soon after a resounding electoral victory, and there is still enough time to the next election to mend any breaks in the party fabric. The timing is perfect for them. However, at the core of all this mayhem is tribal unhappiness about the Zezuru power structure having dominated ZimPolitics for too long with nothing to show for it. The Tsholotsho Declaration had this as one of its objectives – to champion a tribally-rotating presidency. I am not sure how the humiliation of Joyce Mujuru will affect her voter base outside of Mash Central. She may secure sympathy now but over time the masses will forget about her if she happens to be tripped at the Congress. Whatever the outcome of events, I am happy, as Margaret is, that Dr Grace has challenged the establishment to be man enough to slaughter some sacred cows. Tsvete (Patronage) breeds where good men do nothing in the face of evil, and it would be ironic if by allowing her wife to make a fool of herself Mugabe would have succeeded in destroying his political culture, hopefully as an atonement before the upcoming summit with the Almighty… The man is full of surprises.