Zanu PF officials want Mugabe out — Grace

via Zanu PF officials want Mugabe out — Grace – DailyNews Live 3 October 2014 by Lloyd Mbiba

HARARE – First Lady Grace Mugabe has accused senior Zanu PF officials of faking love for her husband but secretly plotting to topple him.

Officially launching her campaign in Chinhoyi yesterday, Grace alleged that there were some party stalwarts burning midnight oil plotting against her husband, President Robert Mugabe.

“We see them dancing kongonya (traditional dance) here as if they love the president, they are good at chanting slogans in the public, but deep in their hearts they don’t love him,” she said.

“They are busy at night plotting his ouster claiming that he is old hence he must go so that they can take over.”

Without mentioning any names, she claimed her 90-year-old husband was aware of the shenanigans, but said he was praying for those plotting against him.

“President Mugabe is a very nice man, we know what they are plotting but because he is a God-fearing man, he just prays for them,” she said.

“We know what happened in 2008, but the president did not attack anyone, he just knelt down and prayed.”

Grace sternly castigated factionalism, saying it had no place in the ruling party.

“Party members dabbling in factionalism have no wisdom,” she railed.

“What we gathered about the youth congress elections was really sad. Some senior party members were vote-buying.

“If you buy some and leave others, who will cater for those left out?

“If I give money to some people and leave others out, what am I trying to do? By vote-buying, what are we teaching our youths who are the future leaders? This should stop.”

She called on party members to concentrate on implementing Zanu PF’s economic blueprint ZimAsset.The economic blueprint was this week described by the International Crisis Group (ICG), a Brussels-based think-tank run by retired statesmen as predicated on “populist election promises and wishful thinking”.

“We are busy fighting for power and positions at congress which will come and go, while we are forgetting what we promised people during elections,” she said.

“People are spending a lot of time fighting each other forgetting that we won the elections, all because of power. Congress will pass and there is life after that.”

Grace, who is going to assume the leadership of the Women’s League, said Zanu PF members should stop supping with Americans.

“Do not work with Americans or take their money because these people are evil,” she said.

“There is no money that comes for free. They know that we have all the minerals here in Zimbabwe. The other day I was reading the Herald that there is oil in Zimbabwe. There is nothing that is not there in this country.

“We might have the oil but it will take us time to find it. Even if we don’t have the oil, we have the land that the Americans want. Let us not be used by Americans.”

Grace said every citizen, including MDC supporters, should be given presidential agricultural inputs.

“Chairman, I heard you speak about the inputs. I believe that every Zimbabwean should benefit, be it Zanu PF or MDC supporters, everyone should get the inputs,” she said.

“We cannot punish our people for making wrong choices. By giving them the inputs, they will see that they made an error and they will join us. In that way, our membership will increase.

“If we don’t give them, they will continue making the wrong decisions. So let us give everyone, regardless of political affiliation.”

The first lady rounded up her speech by launching a stinging attack on opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, claiming he was “finished”.

She said Zimbabweans should not heed Tsvangirai’s call for mass protests against mounting economic hardships. She described the clarion call to mass action as “a reckless statement by an irrelevant individual”.

She said she would work to the best of her abilities to advance women’s issues.