VICE-PRESIDENT Constantino Chiwenga yesterday poked holes in former President Robert Mugabe’s 37-year reign, saying the Zanu PF leader was like the Biblical Moses, who successfully rescued his kinsmen from oppression, but failed to deliver them “to the land of milk and honey because of his delinquency”.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
Addressing guests at a field day held at President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Pricabe Farm in Sherwood Block, Kwekwe, Chiwenga waxed lyrical about the new President, equating him to Moses’ successor, Joshua.
“President Mnangagwa was anointed by God himself to lead this nation. Together with his wife (Auxilia), they were put here so that they lead the sheep of God,” he said. “Moses was delinquent. He took the people out of Egypt, but along the way, he broke the laws and it took Joshua to deliver the children to the land of milk and honey. As you go to vote in the coming elections, I want you to know who your Joshua is.”
This is the first time Chiwenga has publicly attacked Mugabe, whose ouster last November was engineered by the military under his leadership as Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF).
Chiwenga also lashed out at self-exiled former Zanu PF politburo member and Higher Education minister, Jonathan Moyo, labelling him a “ranting mad man on Twitter”. The former military boss said Moyo’s social media antics would not stop Zimbabwe from moving forward.
“There are those who spend time on social media criticising and saying things out of bitterness and behaving like mad man and juveniles,” Chiwenga said in a jibe directed at Moyo.
“If you read their rantings, don’t take them seriously. This will never stop us from building the country. Our work will not stop.”
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Moyo, whose recent social media exposés have threatened to cause irreparable damage to the governing party’s image ahead of this year’s elections, early this week claimed that Zanu PF looted over $70 million diamond revenue from Chiadzwa to oil its campaign machinery in the 2013 elections.
The self-exiled Moyo also claimed, on Twitter, that most of the money was used to source party regalia from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and China.
Chiwenga, then ZDF Commander, last November led a military operation code-named Operation Restore Legacy, which forced Mugabe out of power after 37 years at the helm of the country.
Heaping praise on Mnangagwa, who was not given an opportunity to speak at the field day, Chiwenga said the President’s persistent call for unity, peace and forgiveness was driving the country out of its quagmire.
“In the past four months, we have seen a miracle under the leadership of Mnangagwa. He planted a seed of unity and forgiveness and told us to let go of past misdeeds and to carry only progressive thoughts from the past as one family,” the Vice-President said.
Mnangagwa put 200 hectares under maize, with an expected harvest of 12 tonnes per hectare.
He also has 90 hectares of soya beans, with an expected yield of four tonnes per hectare.
First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa described farming as a source of livelihood for most Zimbabwean families and should not be regarded as a pastime.
Speaking at the same occasion, Zhombe traditional leader Chief Samuel Samambwa pledged to rally his subjects behind Mnangagwa in the forthcoming presidential race.
“My people have pledged votes for President Mnangagwa, those who are here and those left at home. I am President Mnangagwa’s first born child because I was the first chief he installed when he came into office,” the traditional leader, whose chieftainship is being contested by his elder brother, David, said.
