'Tshinga Dube is lying,' says Chimene

Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Mandi Chimene scoffed at allegations by War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube that she threatened to assault him before unleashing sangoma on him.

Chimene yesterday said that Dube's allegations were unfounded and only motivated by sheer malice.

Dube said the incident happened in Mutare at the weekend, when he, together with Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi and War Veterans' ministry permanent secretary Walter Tapfumaneyi were trying to unite ex-freedom fighters, who are deeply divided along Zanu-PF factional lines.

She said the alleged sangoma was a student at Marymount Teachers' College, whose relatives died during the war.

She said the student often comes to war veterans meetings "possessed" by an ancestral spirit, claiming Dube knew the person, as they met in Mozambique during the exhumation of remains of some of the fallen heroes.

"Dube should tell the nation how I threatened him. They think they are destroying me, but they are actually giving me too much publicity for nothing. Why are they promoting me this much? Maybe they identified something in me that I haven't seen and they want to destroy it as soon as possible, but they will not succeed," she said.

Chimene said she does not lead any war veterans' faction and the reason why she moved a motion to expel part of the Christopher Mutsvangwa-led executive was because he had failed to toe the Zanu-PF line.