Mnangagwa praise singers lie for a living

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's supporters are being accused of distorting historical facts in an attempt to embellish his liberation war credentials and justify his alleged bid to extend his rule beyond the constitutional two-term limit ending in 2028.

One such supporter, Cleopas Mukungunugwa, recently claimed on social media that Mnangagwa was "KGB trained in Russia", describing him as "a man forged in the fires of strategy and resilience."

However, this assertion has been debunked as false. Historical records show that Mnangagwa was trained in China in 1964, where he underwent military training, not intelligence training.

The late Dumiso Dabengwa, the former ZIPRA intelligence chief, remains the only prominent Zimbabwean known to have received KGB training, earning him the nickname "The Black Russian."

The KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) was the Soviet Union's main state security agency from 1954 until its dissolution in 1991, serving as the Communist Party's key organ for foreign intelligence and internal security. It was later succeeded by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

Analysts say such revisionist narratives reflect an effort by Mnangagwa's loyalists to recast his liberation history and legitimize his continued grip on power, as debate intensifies over attempts to extend his tenure to 2030 despite constitutional term limits.