Mutasa endorses Mnangagwa

FORMER Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Mr Didymus Mutasa has endorsed President Emmerson Mnangagwa as a good leader, capable of taking Zimbabwe forward if he wins the forthcoming harmonised elections.

Mr Mutasa, who was expelled from the ruling party in 2014 said Zimbabweans should give President Mnangagwa a chance.

He said this last week during a wide ranging interview with a local online television station. Mr Mutasa, who expressed willingness to return to Zanu-PF, said during his stint in the ruling party he had not seen a leader who was open and had a clear vision like President Mnangagwa.

"I think he is going to be a very good leader. He has come up very honestly. I haven't come across anyone who was leading Zanu-PF who is as clear as Emmerson, who wants to do certain things openly and says this is what I want to do, please help me get it done. I'd ask people to be patient. Rome was not built in a day. I am honestly thinking that (President) Emmerson (Mnangagwa) will be a good President if he is given the chance. I believe that he is setting a departure from the system that was there in Zanu-PF and that departure is necessary," he said.

Mr Mutasa described President Mnangagwa as a courageous man following the removal of former President Robert Mugabe from office in November last year through military intervention. He expressed delight at Mr Mugabe's ouster.

"I felt very happy to be honest and I said to myself, congratulations (President) Emmerson (Mnangagwa), I had never thought that Emmerson would do that. I said good heavens, this is very courageous, wonderful man and I still feel like that. He has been very courageous and he has done I think what reasonable Zimbabweans expect and didn't think was ever going to be done," he said.

Mr Mutasa said if Mr Mugabe had been allowed to go ahead with his plan to let his wife Mrs Grace Mugabe succeed him, it would have spelt doom for a lot of people as she wouldn't have made a good leader. He said from what was going on in the ruling party at the time Mr Mugabe was the leader, it was clear that he wanted his wife to succeed him.

"You could see that it all was leading to putting his wife into power. (President) Emmerson Mnangagwa was expelled in exactly the same way (as Dr Joice Mujuru). He actually said I will drop him tomorrow and indeed he was dropped. I think people would have left the country going into hiding. I don't know her (Mrs Mugabe) intimately, what I know are things that everyone else knows about her, public matters that have been discussed," he said.

Mr Mutasa, who after being fired for supporting former Vice-President Dr Joice Mujuru went on to form the Zimbabwe People First, said he was prepared to rejoin Zanu-PF and help correct the party's yesteryear wrongs. He said this in response to recommendations by the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association that all suspended war veterans be readmitted into Zanu-PF.

"This invitation from the war veterans was something which is very important to me. I couldn't say no, I have nothing to do with it, I have a lot to do with it because I was one with many people and you don't run away from your dirt, you clean it up. I'd love very much to go and look after vazukuru, and go into proper retirement but it's impossible to do that," he said.

Added Mr Mutasa, "Look at our people and how poverty has affected every one of us. You can't say alright, I can't be involved with this poverty anymore. You must be involved to try and find honest ways of getting rid of poverty and I think that is what (President) Emmerson (Mnangagwa) is trying to do."

Mr Mutasa was fired from Zanu-PF in 2014 together with former Vice-President Joice Mujuru and former Secretary for Information Mr Rugare Gumbo accused of attempting to topple Mr Mugabe.