Opinion / Columnist
Mujuru berates the military
04 Jul 2017 at 10:59hrs | Views
Former Vice President and current NPP leader Dr. Joyce Mujuru has blown her head off and relentlessly tore into the military labeling them as "things not worth discussing" while at the same time glorifying and encouraging General Chiwenga "to be a ZanuPF commissar".
Since entering opposition politics, Dr. Mujuru has been on a trail blazing roller coaster endlessly attacking opposition leaders such as Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti. In late 90s Dr. J Mujuru was accused of insulting Dr. JM Nkomo as a "senile old man".
Speaking in a wide ranging interview with Daily News last week, Dr. Mujuru berated and belittled the military on their role in Zimbabwean politics. She pointed out how selfish and irresponsible the Zimbabwean military was.
"These (the military) are people who forget who we are. What is happening in Zanu PF is their own making! I have very little time to discuss these (military) people," Mujuru shot from the hip as she tore into the securocrats.
Dr. Mujuru then went on to throw her weight in support of defense forces commander General Constantine Chiwenga and labelled the securocrat a successful ZanuPF commissar. She exonerated Chiwenga and encouraged him to continue being political and support ZanuPF.
"Chiwenga is a political soldier; he grew up in the liberation struggle, and his role was that of political commissar and that is what he is doing even now," said Mujuru as she exculpated General Chiwenga for his Zanu PF partisan execution of duty.
The Zimbabwean Military has been in the recent past accused of human rights abuses at Chiadzwa during the height of diamond discovery in 2008. Mujuru has also been accused for trading in blood diamonds, a charge she is denying up-to-date.
During the shame "one man re-run" presidential elections in 2008, the military was accused of unleashing terror as they campaigned for ZanuPF. Hundreds of MDC supporters were tortured, some abducted while some were maimed during the operation led by military and war veterans. The MDC leader had to escape to Botswana to save his life.
Dr. Mujuru ironically went on to implore other soldiers to "take the middle road" in politics.
"What we are looking for right now is a soldier who will not take sides; a soldier who is above party politics. And when such things arise, the army should take the middle road".
In a clear sign of her ZanuPF nostalgia as well as her ill-gotten wealth and corrupt ways, Mujuru pointed out how she misses abusing government resources in the name of Zanu PF through partisan distribution even of drought relief food. Currently the ruling party is being accused of partisan dishing out of jobs to ZanuPF youths and creating thousands ghost workers.
"I miss my friends (in Zanu PF)…when you are part of ruling fraternity, most of your programs (official and private) are taken care of by government; you just use the same resources (to implement them); it's like killing two birds with one stone" said Dr. Mujuru during the interview on being asked how life outside ZanuPF was.
Zimbabwean voting public has been skeptical about Dr. Mujuru's ultimate aim of entering into the opposition politics. She has been inconsistent and her speeches seem to suggest she is still ZanuPF at heart.
She recently denied that Zanu PF ever used any NIKUV rigging technics in elections. Most opposition parties are fighting against ZEC for being partisan and using NIKUV to rig elections. Recently NERA has increase tempo in fighting for election reforms before the elections. Mujuru has refused to join NERA with NPP, seemingly to protect the unorthodox ZanuPF election engineering.
Since entering opposition politics, Dr. Mujuru has been on a trail blazing roller coaster endlessly attacking opposition leaders such as Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti. In late 90s Dr. J Mujuru was accused of insulting Dr. JM Nkomo as a "senile old man".
Speaking in a wide ranging interview with Daily News last week, Dr. Mujuru berated and belittled the military on their role in Zimbabwean politics. She pointed out how selfish and irresponsible the Zimbabwean military was.
"These (the military) are people who forget who we are. What is happening in Zanu PF is their own making! I have very little time to discuss these (military) people," Mujuru shot from the hip as she tore into the securocrats.
Dr. Mujuru then went on to throw her weight in support of defense forces commander General Constantine Chiwenga and labelled the securocrat a successful ZanuPF commissar. She exonerated Chiwenga and encouraged him to continue being political and support ZanuPF.
"Chiwenga is a political soldier; he grew up in the liberation struggle, and his role was that of political commissar and that is what he is doing even now," said Mujuru as she exculpated General Chiwenga for his Zanu PF partisan execution of duty.
The Zimbabwean Military has been in the recent past accused of human rights abuses at Chiadzwa during the height of diamond discovery in 2008. Mujuru has also been accused for trading in blood diamonds, a charge she is denying up-to-date.
During the shame "one man re-run" presidential elections in 2008, the military was accused of unleashing terror as they campaigned for ZanuPF. Hundreds of MDC supporters were tortured, some abducted while some were maimed during the operation led by military and war veterans. The MDC leader had to escape to Botswana to save his life.
Dr. Mujuru ironically went on to implore other soldiers to "take the middle road" in politics.
"What we are looking for right now is a soldier who will not take sides; a soldier who is above party politics. And when such things arise, the army should take the middle road".
In a clear sign of her ZanuPF nostalgia as well as her ill-gotten wealth and corrupt ways, Mujuru pointed out how she misses abusing government resources in the name of Zanu PF through partisan distribution even of drought relief food. Currently the ruling party is being accused of partisan dishing out of jobs to ZanuPF youths and creating thousands ghost workers.
"I miss my friends (in Zanu PF)…when you are part of ruling fraternity, most of your programs (official and private) are taken care of by government; you just use the same resources (to implement them); it's like killing two birds with one stone" said Dr. Mujuru during the interview on being asked how life outside ZanuPF was.
Zimbabwean voting public has been skeptical about Dr. Mujuru's ultimate aim of entering into the opposition politics. She has been inconsistent and her speeches seem to suggest she is still ZanuPF at heart.
She recently denied that Zanu PF ever used any NIKUV rigging technics in elections. Most opposition parties are fighting against ZEC for being partisan and using NIKUV to rig elections. Recently NERA has increase tempo in fighting for election reforms before the elections. Mujuru has refused to join NERA with NPP, seemingly to protect the unorthodox ZanuPF election engineering.
Source - Nadia Nare
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