EXILED former minister Jonathan Moyo (pictured) has claimed he has never been a political ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa even during the days of the Tsholotsho Declaration, adding he holds the country’s leader in “disdain” and as the instigator of Gukurahundi.

By NQOBANI NDLOVU

Moyo was viewed as a key player in the 2004 declaration when a group of six Zanu PF provincial chairpersons, members of the politburo, central committee and war veterans met in Tsholotsho to plot and push Mnangagwa to occupy the vacant post of Vice-President following the death of Simon Muzenda.

The move was undone by then President Robert Mugabe’s move to amend the party constitution to ensure one of his deputies was a woman.

The decision saw now opposition leader Joice Mujuru become Vice-President.

“The widely held view that Mnangagwa and I have, at any time before now, been so-called political allies, or that I supported him in the Tsholotsho saga, is pure fiction. Mnangagwa and I know only too well that we have always held each other in mutual contempt. Ever since!

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“As captured in Wikileaks, on 21 December 2001 Mnangagwa, as Speaker of Parliament, ‘voiced his disdain’ for me to US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Joseph Sullivan. He said that knowing I too was, as I still am, disdainful of him as the ugly face of what’s wrong with Zanu PF and Zimbabwe!,” Moyo wrote on his Twitter timeline on Friday responding to a question why he blames Mnangagwa for the Gukurahundi massacres.

Mnangagwa stands accused of having had a hand in Gukurahundi since he was State security minister, a charge he vehemently denied saying the blame laid squarely with Mugabe.

“Mnangagwa has flatly refused to acknowledge, take responsibility or apologise for his role in the Gukurahundi atrocities. He’s on record before the coup declaring Gukurahundi a closed chapter.

“A person who does not acknowledge a tragic problem, like Gukurahundi, can’t be expected to solve that problem. President Mugabe acknowledged Gukurahundi as a moment of madness. But he failed to solve it, because he was held hostage by Gukurahundi denialists who ousted him!,” Moyo wrote.

He added: “An obvious question to ask is, why has Mnangagwa refused to acknowledge, take responsibility and apologise for Gukurahundi? An obvious answer is simply that he knows only too well that he was, and is, the most culpable; as the leading instigator and enforcer of Gukurahundi.!”

Mnangagwa refused to take responsibility or tender apologies for the Gukurahundi massacres during an interview in Davos, Switzerland. The President has appointed a National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) to deal with the 1980’s mass killings.

Moyo added: “Under Mnangagwa’s unfettered control and direction, assisted by Danny Stannard and their coterie of British and apartheid intelligence operatives, the CIO manufactured lies that Zapu leaders and Ndebeles were fomenting insurrection and tortured and murdered alleged insurgents!

“The lead state organ in the execution of the State of emergency in the dark Gukurahundi years between 1980 and 1987 was Mnangagwa’s brutal CIO. In this period, illegal detentions against court orders, widespread torture and murder on a mass scale were the order of the day!”