The Sunday News
Sunday News Reporter
THE former Zanu-PF District Co-ordinating Committee (DCC) chairman for Tsholotsho, Cde Believe Gaule, has penned an explosive book on the much talked about, Tsholotsho Declaration, which claimed the scalps of many political heavy weights in the run-up to the revolutionary party’s 2004 congress.
Sunday News on Friday had sight of the manuscript of the book titled, Tsholotsho Declaration: The Untold Story, which is set to be launched around the end of November this year.
Cde Gaule said the book whose cover page would have a picture of a leopard lying on a rock is a no-holds barred piece of work meant to put the record straight on the Dinyane Secondary School Prize Giving Day in 2004, which was later on called the Tsholotsho Declaration.
The book, which chronicles Cdes Gaule’s political life from the time he was a member of the Youth League up to now also critically analyses the “positive and negative role” played by current and past Zanu-PF officials in the political drama that followed the Dinyane Prize Giving Day ceremony.
Cde Gaule says at the Dinyane event, six Zanu-PF provincial chairpersons, senior Government and ruling party officials attended the event as part of moves to support the candidature of Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa, the current State President, who was then Secretary of Administration to take over the position of Vice-President, which had been left vacant following the death of Cde Simon Muzenda. However, the move was thwarted when the ruling party changed the Constitution, saying the position should be reserved for a woman and that resulted in Mrs Joice Mujuru coming in as Vice-President.
The first part of the book begins with Cde Gaule, a former school teacher writing about his early political life as a member of the Zanu-PF Youth League. He says in 1999 he, together with Cdes Cephas Mudenda and Joshua Muzambwa attended a Matabeleland North Zanu-PF provincial conference at Baobab Hotel in Hwange, supported the candidature of Cde Mnangagwa against Cde John Landa Nkomo to take over the National Chairmanship from the late Cde Joseph Msika who had filled the position of Vice-President, left vacant following the death of Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo on 1 July in 1999.
Cde Gaule explains that they supported Cde Mnangagwa against Cde John Nkomo despite the fact that he came from Matabeleland North and in particular in Tsholotsho because they felt he preferred Bulawayo as evidenced by the fact that he had “the tendency of contesting for parliamentary seats in Bulawayo”. At that time the late Cde John Nkomo was the Member of Parliament for Bulawayo North.
On Dinyane, Cde Gaule explained that the event was never a coup as was later advanced by other party members, but the politicians who attended the event came together to support Cde Mnangagwa rise to VP.
“We wanted to show people that the now President Emmerson Mnangagwa had the support of the party structures, it was our feeling that he should take over from Cde Simon Muzenda. In actual fact I had as the DCC chairperson personally invited ED through then Minister of Information, Professor Jonathan Moyo. However, ED could not attend as there was an urgent Politburo meeting in Harare and as Secretary for Administration he was then seized with a lot of administration work,” writes Cde Gaule.
“At the end of the day, Cde Patrick Chinamasa whom I have high regard for stood in for him as the guest of honour at Dinyane. On behalf of the people of Tsholotsho I gave out a leopard skin as a present to ED, the skin symbolised royalty. The Dinyane event was important as it gave us the supporters of ED the chance to meet, since it was a Thursday, there was no time as provinces were supposed to come up with their nominations on Saturday, so there was only Friday in between.”
He goes on to write about the meeting that followed the Dinyane event, which was held at the Rainbow Hotel in Bulawayo, which was meant to brainstorm what had transpired in the Politburo meeting.
“When we heard that the Politburo had decided that one of the Vice-Presidents should be a woman, the gathering quickly came up with the name of the now late Thenjiwe Lesabe while keeping Cde Mnangagwa as the other VP,” writes Cde Gaule.
Cde Gaule then goes on to chronicle that after the Dinyane gathering was condemned as an attempted coup meant to topple then President Robert Mugabe and there were a lot of political casualties.
Among the casualties besides himself, as he was fired from the party, was the current President of the Senate, Cde Mabel Chinomona, Professor Jonathan Moyo, Cdes July Moyo; Jabulani Sibanda, Pearson Mbalekwa, Jacob Mudenda, Lloyd Siyoka, Andrew Langa, Josiah Hungwe, Abednigo Ncube, Daniel Shumba, Mike Madiro and the late Themba Ncube.
On Cde Mbalekwa, Cde Gaule said the former senior intelligence officer and Member of Parliament for Zvishavane suffered more when he voluntarily resigned from the ruling party in frustration.
“The aftermath of Mbalekwa’s resignation saw him being subjected to political persecution of the highest order as the authorities raided his farm, situated a few kilometres outside Kwekwe. They looted all his farm implements leaving him with nothing. He had to start from zero,” writes Cde Gaule.
Cde Gaule said in frustration they tried together with colleagues like Cde Mbalekwa to form the United People’s Party (UPM) with a view of inviting Cde Mnangagwa to lead it, but the veteran politician (ED) turned them down, arguing that despite the problems there was no need to form another party as Zanu-PF was their home.
“UPM suffered a still birth, it was the wise counsel of President Mnangagwa that one day things would be good and that has come to pass and we are all in Zanu-PF as a happy people. He told us to stop thinking of another political party,” writes Cde Gaule.
Commenting on the book, Cde Gaule said it was about the political journey he had travelled in his life and in many ways it also includes the political life of President Mnangagwa, the suffering he has gone through all the way to the highest office in the country.
“In my book, I did not censor myself, there was no way I was going to do that. Everyone has been allocated the role he or she played in either in aiding or frustrating the ascendancy of ED to the Presidency,” said Cde Gaule.
“However, despite the political suffering I went through in support of President Mnangagwa with colleagues such as Mbalekwa, I say politics is a game of possibilities, some of the comrades that fought against ED’s ascendancy are now steering the ship and some of those that sacrificed all for change in Zanu-PF are now working together with their once tormentors.
“That is politics, I am glad that some of us had foresight, I am also glad that those who did not have that foresight are singing from the same hymn book with us. However, in the book everyone who was for or against is mentioned by name. This is a historical record, which should be told as it is.”
