Mnangagwa not snubbing Grace Mugabe's rallies, says Charamba

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is not snubbing the First Lady Grace Mugabe's countrywide rallies as his role as leader of Government business in Parliament demands that he attends to pressing national issues raised by legislators in the House, Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba said yesterday.

Mr Charamba said President Mugabe equally split roles for VP Mnangagwa and his counterpart Phelekezela Mphoko and no one had neither a big nor small assignment. This, he said, was meant to accelerate the implementation of Zim-Asset, reinforced through the 10-Point Plan for economic growth.

Recent tours by the Zanu-PF Women's League, led by its secretary Grace Mugabe, have been held during the week, coinciding with Parliamentary sittings and this resulted in only Vice President Mphoko attending the rallies. In July, President Mugabe reshuffled Cabinet and assigned VP Mphoko additional responsibilities to superintend Government policy co-ordination and implementation.

A combination of these two factors has seen the private media concocting baseless viewpoints, claiming that VP Mnangagwa was being sidelined because "he does not see eye-to-eye with the First Lady because they were competing to succeed President Mugabe."

The papers claimed that VP Mnangagwa's powers had been "whittled" adding that by attending the rallies, VP Mphoko was "overtaking" VP Mnangagwa in the Zanu-PF pecking order. However, Mr Charamba, said Mnangagwa's absence from the rallies simply related to a clash of programmes.

Said Mr Charamba: "Parliament is in session and Vice President Mnangagwa is the leader of Government business in the House. It was not possible for the Vice President to be with the First Lady. In any event let it not be forgotten that at the first meeting of the (Zanu-PF) Women's League in Kadoma both Vice Presidents were there and VP Mnangagwa took a leading role. Even today (yesterday), VP Mnangagwa had to leave Cabinet going to Parliament," Mr Charamba said.

The President, he said, had split the oversight load for the VPs to make work manageable. He said VP Mnangagwa was in charge of the resource mobilisation committee in and outside the country and spearheaded the project of investment. VP Mphoko on the other hand was assigned the oversight role on implementation of Government programmes.

"That is why you notice that when it comes to raising resources in Government, VP Mnangagwa is in charge," Mr Charamba said. "Just recently he was able to raise resources worth $200 million for wheat for the country. Even delegations from foreign countries you see them passing through his office. He is working closely with Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa and other ministers who are part of the resource mobilisation committee."

Mr Charamba went on: "As for VP Mphoko you see him criss-crossing the country looking at roads, railway lines, dam projects and parastatals. This is part of his mandate. This is not a new mandate but it is a policy implementation mandate that has been upgraded to the level of Vice President to ensure projects under ZimAsset and Public Sector Investment Projects (PSIP) come under close and tight supervision and meet set timelines."

He said the two VPs converged to the President to keep him updated on progress made on all fronts. "In terms of the two assignments, no assignment is too small or too big as both are complementary and of mutually reinforcing importance," Mr Charamba said.

"It has never been this smooth for the President. He feels assisted, he feels the burden of governing is getting lighter, thanks to the two VPs who are working harmoniously in a non-rivaled fashion and with amazing diligence. The President is happy."

He also dismissed the notion that the First Lady had paraded her powers and forced the postponement of last week's Politburo meeting saying she was responding to "distress calls" from the people of Mashonaland Central province. The meeting, which was slated for Wednesday took place the following day as the First Lady and her team were in Rushinga.

"In the first place, the Women's League announced their fixture at very short notice which is why the Politburo date had to be changed," Mr Charamba said. "It was at short notice because of the distress calls that had come from Rushinga over food shortages as well as Chimhanda irrigation project which needed support. So, the First Lady had to quickly accommodate that plea."

Amai Mugabe, who unveiled farming equipment that would be used to resuscitate four irrigation schemes in the province on top of food stuffs she handed out, is on record saying she has no differences with the Vice Presidents.