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'You're free to go,' Mujuru camp told
19 Jan 2015 at 10:22hrs | Views
Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa has told Zanu-PF ‘rebels' that if they are tired of being in the party and feel that the current leadership is not in their interest, must stop barking and go.
Addressing Zanu-PF supporters in Chirumanzu-Zibangwe constituency on Saturday, in apparent reference to fired Vice-President Joice Mujuru and her allies, Mnangagwa said those fed up with Zanu-PF must go instead of barking at a moving elephant.
"Zanu-PF is a very big party, if you are tired just leave. Don't try to bring some disunity among its rank and file. We want the party to be united in the same way it was during the July 2013 elections," the acting president said.
"I told you before and let me remind you that here, Zanu-PF is like an elephant. Do you know what an elephant does? Whenever it moves around and passes through a home where there are barking dogs, it will just pass through.
"It will ignore the barking dogs until the sound disappears."
Former party secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa, a close ally of Mujuru, last week issued a public statement discrediting the new Zanu-PF leadership appointed by President Robert Mugabe at the December congress. He questioned the legality of the congress and the ouster of bigwigs, among them Mujuru and himself.
Mutasa has been on warpath with the Zanu-PF leadership, saying he does not recognise it as it assumed power corruptly.
In the run-up to the December congress, First Lady Grace Mugabe led a campaign against the then vice-president, accusing her of leading a camp which was plotting to assassinate the president.
The campaigns were carried out during her "meet the people" rallies where she accused Mujuru of being corrupt and an inept leader who could not take over from her husband or even remain in a national office for more than a day.
Mnangagwa said Mutasa should stop lying that he was not involved in the build-up to congress, saying the former minister for Presidential Affairs, in his capacity as then secretary for administration, invited party structures to congress and presided over the invitations of resolutions for the indaba, but unfortunately became ill on the day the congress started.
"When he got ill, he went to South Africa for treatment and the party paid his medical bills. While in South Africa, his wife also got sick and the president told him to take her to India with government paying the bill. So it is his faulty that he got sick, it is not the party that became sick, but Mutasa," Mnangagwa told the supporters.
The acting president said with political stability now assured after the December congress, the Zanu-PF government is now focusing on delivering on the economic front with the turnaround of the agriculture sector being the main target.
"Under the Zanu-PF government, political stability is guaranteed, now we are focusing on bringing a better future for our people. We are doing that starting with the mainstay of our economy, agriculture," Mnangagwa said.
"But we can only achieve this if we are united in the same way we were in July 2013."
Addressing Zanu-PF supporters in Chirumanzu-Zibangwe constituency on Saturday, in apparent reference to fired Vice-President Joice Mujuru and her allies, Mnangagwa said those fed up with Zanu-PF must go instead of barking at a moving elephant.
"Zanu-PF is a very big party, if you are tired just leave. Don't try to bring some disunity among its rank and file. We want the party to be united in the same way it was during the July 2013 elections," the acting president said.
"I told you before and let me remind you that here, Zanu-PF is like an elephant. Do you know what an elephant does? Whenever it moves around and passes through a home where there are barking dogs, it will just pass through.
"It will ignore the barking dogs until the sound disappears."
Former party secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa, a close ally of Mujuru, last week issued a public statement discrediting the new Zanu-PF leadership appointed by President Robert Mugabe at the December congress. He questioned the legality of the congress and the ouster of bigwigs, among them Mujuru and himself.
Mutasa has been on warpath with the Zanu-PF leadership, saying he does not recognise it as it assumed power corruptly.
The campaigns were carried out during her "meet the people" rallies where she accused Mujuru of being corrupt and an inept leader who could not take over from her husband or even remain in a national office for more than a day.
Mnangagwa said Mutasa should stop lying that he was not involved in the build-up to congress, saying the former minister for Presidential Affairs, in his capacity as then secretary for administration, invited party structures to congress and presided over the invitations of resolutions for the indaba, but unfortunately became ill on the day the congress started.
"When he got ill, he went to South Africa for treatment and the party paid his medical bills. While in South Africa, his wife also got sick and the president told him to take her to India with government paying the bill. So it is his faulty that he got sick, it is not the party that became sick, but Mutasa," Mnangagwa told the supporters.
The acting president said with political stability now assured after the December congress, the Zanu-PF government is now focusing on delivering on the economic front with the turnaround of the agriculture sector being the main target.
"Under the Zanu-PF government, political stability is guaranteed, now we are focusing on bringing a better future for our people. We are doing that starting with the mainstay of our economy, agriculture," Mnangagwa said.
"But we can only achieve this if we are united in the same way we were in July 2013."
Source - Zim Mail
