The Sunday News
Cletus Mushanawani
A LOT of events have been unfolding in Zanu-PF over the past few months with issues of factionalism, assassination plots being unearthed, undermining the First Secretary of Zanu-PF President Mugabe, ousting of provincial chairpersons as well as the war veterans leadership. This week, our sister paper, The Manica Post, managed to pin down one of the most vocal cadres in the ruling party, Cde Mandi Chimene, who at one time disciplined suspended Zanu-PF national spokesperson, Cde Rugare Gumbo, during the liberation struggle after he had allegedly sold out the struggle by plotting the ouster of the party’s leaders and the abduction of senior members like the late Dr Herbert Ushewokunze in Mozambique.
Below is the one-on-one interview, Cletus Pfungwa Mushanawani, had with the outspoken legislator for Makoni South, Cde Chimene:
CPM: Cde Chimene, of late a lot of things have been happening in the ruling Zanu-PF where a lot of issues have been put onto the public domain ranging from factionalism, succession, corruption, assassination plots, humiliation of the First Family and ousting of provincial chairpersons, but we are surprised that as one of the most vocal persons in the party you have been quiet. What is your take on all this unfolding drama?
MC: I was not quiet. I was watching as the drama was unfolding and gathering as much information as possible to have a better insight of the real issues worth talking or commenting about.
I cannot just wake up and start going public about something I have little information on.
For your on information, I was among the first people to raise alarm about all the unfolding drama in Zanu-PF. I am on record especially during the run-up and after the 2008 elections saying that the party had been infiltrated by some people conniving with the opposition.
I had picked it that these people had an agenda of trying to topple the party’s leadership and effect regime change from within.
I was dismissed as someone who is talkative. I even raised the issue in one of the Central Committee meetings, but I was shot down by the late Vice-President Joseph Msika who ruled me out of order and said: “Gara pasi unotaurisa”, but I answered him by saying: “mozonditonderawo (You will remember me) when the time comes”. Here we are today! My words have come to pass.
After shooting me down, Cde Msika later revised his statements while we were in Bindura during our annual conference. When I made my contributions during the Central Committee meeting, Cde Msika backed me saying: “Tererai, chimunhu ichi chinopenga, asi chiteererei (Listen, this little person she is mad but listen to her anyhow.)”
At one time I told President Mugabe that pamakagara apo muri mega, ndimi murikuridza pfuti makananga muvengi, asi vamwe venyu vakanongedza pfuti pamuri (Where you are seated you are alone, it is only you shooting at the enemy, but your lieutenants are pointing their guns at you). It is now time for everyone to reflect on the past and seriously look at the roots of all these evils haunting the party.
CPM: From what you are saying, it seems you had an insight of the unfolding events in Zanu-PF. Did anyone ever take heed of the early warning signs? Are you surprised with the developments taking place?
MC: Some of us are always ahead of most people. Some of the cadres believe in seeing like the biblical Thomas, but we are not from that school of thought. This has been unfolding for a long time, but we adopted a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil stance until it was a bit too late. I think you are aware that I am a former Central Intelligence Organisation officer and we learnt a lot during our tenure there. We know the history of the party from the days of the liberation struggle.
History will always repeat itself. Some of the senior members being accused of selling out were at it during the liberation struggle and a leopard will never change its spots. We are children of the struggle and we still stand guided by the rules of the struggle especially those we get from the Eight-Point song popularly known as Nzira Dzemasoja.
As trained cadres, the Eight-Point song is still our guiding principle as the song teaches us the expected behaviour of a trained cadre. The song speaks against corruption, looting of public resources and oppression of the masses and some of our most senior members are now being accused of such acts.
I sit in the Agriculture Committee in Parliament and everyone in that committee is in agreement that we should support local industry by promoting locally produced goods, but what did we hear later?
We heard that the bigwigs gave subordinates an order facilitating the importation of cheap chickens from Brazil.
If you look at the people involved, one is forced to question their liberation war credentials. We joined the liberation struggle for different reasons. Some joined as criminals fleeing prosecution back home, some joined as Rhodesian spies, some joined to cause chaos, the likes of Rugare Gumbo, while some joined because of the love of their country.
History is very stubborn because some have accolades they do not deserve. Some did not suffer in the struggle, but today they are at the forefront abusing their positions for selfish gains.
We have members of the General Staff like Cdes Nyemwererai and Tapiwa (Senator Judith Mawire) who are always being looked down upon by some of the people they trained even those who never contributed anything towards the liberation of this country.
It is not surprising that we have the likes of Rugare Gumbo doing what they are doing today.
During the struggle I was a member of the security department and had the opportunity to interrogate him (Rugare Gumbo) when he rebelled and had caused the abduction and detention of the likes of the late Dr Ushewokunze. I disciplined him. Shamu yangu anoiziva iye (He knows by beatings) Rugare Gumbo.
We have people like Olivia Muchena who were senior members of the late Abel Muzorewa’s UANC (United African National Council) now political commissars in the Women’s League. What does she know about the history of the struggle?
What will she teach me about the do’s and don’ts expected of a cadre of a revolutionary party?
Can she sing any one revolutionary song?
Maybe she can sing a church hymn, but look at where she is today, up there among the top chefs.
The same applies to Flora Buka who is occupying a senior position in the party, but still a greenhorn.
I cannot submit myself to anyone who will not add any value to my life.
CPM: Cde Chimene, it seems there is a big issue on hierarchy in the party where some people who are still wet behind the ears politically are now bossing around their seniors, what happened for them to be in those positions?
CM: As a party, we realised that we needed to embrace everyone including the up-and-coming politicians because those with the history of the struggle are dying every day. The grooming process has gone terribly wrong because the young blood has turned against those who recruited them.
There is massive use of money to buy party positions. Some people are occupying their current positions after paying chefs. Some of them are now using dzakutsaku politics in Zanu-PF and the party has no room for such people.
CPM: Where is the money you said is being used to buy positions coming from?
CM: Like what I said before, people are not reflecting on the Eight-Point song. We now have celebrated looters in our midst who have one agenda, which is regime change.
These people are using their resources to effect a regime change because they were promised big rewards in future. Our former colonisers are back big time, but they are now targeting individuals who they are using as tools to effect regime change from within Zanu-PF.
We have a very serious issue of whites penetrating our rank and file using uncouth cadres.
We were warned during the struggle that we should brace ourselves for sugar-coated bullets and look at where we are today. Some of us have fallen for the sugar-coated bullets.
We were warned that some of our leaders will sell out because of their love of money and where are we today?
CPM: Cde Chimene, it seems opportunists were given a lot of room to manoeuvre and cause havoc in the party, were you not noticing their true colours from the onset?
CM: President Mugabe is not a fool. He is gifted with patience and he usually gives people a long rope to hang themselves.
Some of the people like Dzikamai Mavhaire never repent.
We do not know much about him save for the fact that he was the first person to say President Mugabe should go. He was once expelled from the party, but when he bounced back, he continued with his regime and factional agenda.
If you look at the team of board members Mavhaire appointed in boards of parastatals under his ministry, you will see that he was pursuing a factional agenda.
Some of the board members are well-known faction functionaries like Mvundura (John) and Kanzama (Fred). A lot of meetings were being held right round the country disguised as party empowerment meetings like the so-called livestock scheme which Mavhaire as secretary for Labour and Production in the Politburo was spearheading. The same people would attend the meetings.
In the Women’s League the outgoing chairperson, Muchinguri, had been reduced to a nonentity. At times she was being forced to find a seat somewhere not close to the factional functionaries.
We have people like the suspended Enock Porusingazi who was the chief faction recruiting officer. He would go around saying I belong to MaNdlovu faction.
He would say: “Mudhara (President Mugabe) will be asleep Taita (Mai Mujuru) vachitonga nyika. I cannot be recruited by Poru, I am the one who is supposed to recruit him. He even approached me trying to recruit me to their faction and I told him off. In short, Porusingazi was the chief recruiting officer.
CPM: Taking you back a bit, Cde Chimene, you participated in the liberation struggle and there is this talk of Vice-President Mujuru gunning down a chopper and some people are dismissing this claim, what do you know about this issue?
CM: I mentioned it before that it is time for everyone to tell us their true history, how they were recruited, their recruitment officers and their contributions to the struggle.
Mind you, some of the celebrated heroes and heroines never participated on the war front. My question is that: was the chopper shot down in Beira or Maputo where Mai Mujuru used to operate from during the struggle? I never heard of that heroic deed during the struggle. I only came to know of it after independence.
What I know is that her group which was being led by the late Cde Chipembere whose remains are still placed in a sack at Chibondo in Mount Darwin waiting exhumation was attacked by the Rhodesian forces and Cde Chipembere downed the chopper. Unfortunately, Cde Chipembere died during that contact. Maybe it is something I was never told because Cde Mujuru joined the struggle earlier than some of us. We need Operation Ngatizivane (Asazane).
CPM: Manicaland is blamed for being the midwife of all opposition parties, what is really wrong with this province?
CM: The problem is that we have leaders like Cde Didymus Mutasa who are always out to pursue selfish agendas. They have ambitions and they try to whip everyone to follow their line of thinking.
Manicaland is one of the best provinces in the country, but it is always suffering from leadership crisis.
There is gross corruption in Manicaland with girlfriends and concubines of some chefs having farms at the expense of deserving cadres. The suspension of three Manicaland provincial co-ordination committee members, Cdes Mvundura, Kasu and Kaunye, is a welcome development because they were using their positions to whip people into their line of thinking.
There was no longer freedom of expression in the party as people were made to think in one way.
Some of us were told in our face that we should forget about having a seat in the Central Committee. The same applies to the likes of Cde Muchinguri.
CPM: The National People’s Congress is a few weeks from now. Will what is happening now not have an effect on the party after the congress?
CM: What is happening now will strengthen the party.
All bad apples should have been fired long back. If a person is fired from the party, it is that individual alone and not Zanu-PF.
We have so many people some of them who used to think were untouchables who were fired from the party, but Zanu-PF is still going strong. The party is bigger than individuals.
If I were in the position of VP Mujuru with all the allegations being levelled against her, I would have done the noble thing of stepping down and have introspection.
She should not continue having the head-on attitude she is having. It doesn’t pay to be stubborn and aggressive when all odds are against you. She should give the nation a chance to closely scrutinise the allegations levelled against her.
If she is found to be clean, then the people of Zimbabwe will have her back as their leader and not to be stubborn like this.
We are ageing by the day and we want to pass a clean baton to this country’s future leaders. We want to leave the party in good shape. We want to urge President Mugabe to be ruthless with all those undermining the party.
Some people were positioning themselves to take over from President Mugabe saying he is old, but are they God who knows the fate of everyone? President Mugabe is sharper than all those vying for his position.
We should look at Operation Murambatsvina. Some people were up in arms against it, but they are the same people who are going around saying our cities are now clean.
The same applies to Zanu-PF.
CPM: Some senior members are accused of uttering treasonous and subversive statements, how do you view such allegations?
CM: Treason and subversion are very serious offences and law enforcement agents should investigate them. In most countries these two offences carry either death or life sentence. You cannot speak ill against the leadership of a state.
If our leaders like President Mugabe were charged and incarcerated for uttering what Smith viewed as subversive statements, the same should apply to all those being accused of making treasonous and subversive statements. The law should not change. Such utterances are criminal and the law should take its course.
These people should be arrested and prove their innocence in court. If some of them wanted to kill the likes of Dr Ushewokunze during the struggle, what will stop them from killing President Mugabe?
In Shona if a person says ‘‘uchaona’’ it is a serious threat and one can be forced to consult a n’anga over such a threat.
We have the likes of Didymus Mutasa being implicated and being the Minister of Presidential Affairs, he no longer qualifies to hold such a portfolio because he can be feeding President Mugabe with wrong information for selfish gains.
CPM: The coming of Dr Amai Grace Mugabe into mainstream politics, what does that mean to the party?
CM: The history of Zanu-PF shows that President Mugabe was always with his wife, the late Cde Sally Mugabe, during the trying times of the liberation struggle and soon after independence.
As the leader of women’s league, Amai Sally Mugabe would tell Baba Mugabe all issues affecting this wing directly as the mother of the nation. When President Mugabe married the current First Lady she was still young and had a lot to learn which she did.
We once approached her to take over the leadership of the women’s league. She told us that she was comfortable supporting her husband in the background. She asked us to give her time, but this is the ripe time for her to come on board.
She is now mature and ripe. Dr Mugabe is not a new entry into politics because she has always attended meetings and rallies where her husband was presiding and through the meetings she managed to learn the ropes of the party.
We welcome her coming to active politics and in fact this is the right time for her to come on board to help us cleanse the party.
CPM: Finally, Cde Chimene, what is your take on the developments taking place in the war veterans’ association?
CM: At one time, the Matabeleland leadership was up in arms against the leadership of Jabulani Sibanda in the war veterans’ associations, but President Mugabe defended him. I was also among the people who were vocal in support of Cde Jabu.
Today Jabu has turned against the person who saved him. His utterances are not expected from a leader like him and he deserves the sacking. In short he shot himself in the foot.
CPM: Thank you very much, Cde Mandi.
CM: The pleasure is mine. Mark my words, Zanu-PF will come out of the December congress a rejuvenated party.
