Mnangagwa says, They are possessed with the 'biblical Legion' demon'

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday strongly castigated elements that pretend to be Zanu-PF when at heart they are not, saying they were free to leave the revolutionary party. Addressing hordes of Zanu-PF supporters at Muchakata Business Centre in Chiwundura ahead of the by-election on Saturday, VP Mnangagwa described such people as "possessed" with the "biblical Legion" demon.

He urged Zanu-PF supporters to be wary of people bent on sabotaging and destabilising the revolutionary party.

"Our people should respect each other," said VP Mnangagwa. "However, kune vamwe vanopindwa nemweya waLegion wemuBible. Vanhu vakadero vanofanirwa kubuda muZanu-PF (Such people must leave Zanu-PF).

"Not all who call Jesus' name are Christians. Same applies to Zanu-PF, not all who say we are Zanu-PF are Zanu-PF. Some of them are not Zanu-PF. Pane vanoti isai bhora musango, muvachenjerere ivavo nekuti vane mweya yakaipa, mweya yaLegion."

VP Mnangagwa said Zanu-PF was not a violent party and those who perpetrate violence should do so at their own peril.

He said Zimbabwe is a peaceful country and those that want to either incite or perpetrate violence should be rebuked with the contempt they deserve.

VP Mnangagwa urged all member of the party to remain united and uphold the ideology and values of Zanu-PF as a revolutionary party.

"Isu muno hatidi mhirizhonga," he said. "Ukaita mhirizhonga kana humhesvamukono hwako ndezvako nekuti nyika ino haina mhirizhonga (If you want to perpetrate violence do it at your own risk because we are a peaceful country).

"I would want to urge all the candidates who were not successful in the primary elections to join hands with our candidate Brown Ndlovu so that we ensure that we retain this parliamentary seat. We are all fighting for the same cause, therefore, we should be united.

"Tinofanirwa kuti masikati totaura kuti tina Ndlovu, manheru zvekare tina Ndlovu. Do not vote for these fly-by-night political parties vanoita sana chura."

VP Mnangagwa said Zanu-PF had remained committed to transforming the lives of the people, as evidenced by developmental projects the party had enmbarked on.

He said the country recently witnessed a surge in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) following successful agricultural programmes and infrastructural development projects.

VP Mnangagwa said the country was slowly becoming self reliant owing to such programmes as Command Agriculture and the Presidential Inputs Support Scheme.

"According to statistics released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank last month, our GDP has risen by 2,6 percent this year," he said. "Our Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa projected that our GDP would grow by 3,7 percent. This is because of our agricultural programmes, the mining sector and infrastructural development in general. This has all been achieved without borrowing money from outside."

VP Mnangagwa said Government was in the process of identifying farmers to embark on a massive cattle fattening programme that would see the country's beef industry rising from 280 000 cattle to 600 000 slaughtered per year.

He said this would be part of the $300 million which was secured by Government to fund the Command Livestock programme launched last month.

"Yesterday (Tuesday), I had a meeting with livestock farmers to discuss the required amount of money for the Command Livestock programme," said VP Mnangagwa.

"This project includes fishery, piggery, poultry, goat and sheep farming as well as cattle farming. As a country we were slaughtering around 280 000 cattle every year. We want to increase the number to 600 000. We are looking for farmers who would embark on a cattle fattening programme so that we would be able to meet the target," he said.