Mnangagwa told to appoint 2nd VP

AN opposition MP yesterday said that President Emmerson Mnangagwa should appoint a second Vice-President to fill in the void left by former Vice-President Kembo Mohadi who resigned last year after a sex scandal.

The post of the second VP was created following the 1987 Unity Accord between Zanu-PF and the former PF Zapu party led by the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo.

Since then the country has had two VPs, but former Vice-President Joice Mujuru served alone from 2009 to 2014 following the death of Joseph Msika from the former PF Zapu side.

In the National Assembly yesterday, Magwegwe MP Anele Ndebele (MDC Alliance) said: "It is my duty as a representative of my people to make this demand … It is ironic that the independence celebrations where held in Bulawayo, but we the people of Matabeleland feel and bemoan the effects of exclusionary politics."

Ndebele said the second VP should be appointed in line with the Unity Accord, which is irrevocable.

"In the politics of our country, the Presidium is a very powerful body in matters of national unity and devolution and decentralisation.  The appointment of a second VP is needed now more than ever because our society is highly polarised," he said.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated matter, Harare East MP Tendai Biti (Citizens Coalition for Change) demanded that Foreign Affairs minister Frederick Shava should issue a ministerial statement in Parliament to explain how Zimbabwe harboured the world's most wanted Rwandan fugitive, Protais Mpiranya.

"We kindly ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs to come to this House to explain how he was killed, why he was using a false identity, and why he was buried in Zimbabwe," Biti said.