President Robert Mugabe has described Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, the man who masterminded his 2013 election victory, as a “devil incarnate”. Addressing mourners at the residence of the country’s first black Information Minister, Nathan Shamuyarira, Mugabe said Moyo had replaced editors at state media with Movement for Democratic Change sympathisers. “Intellectuals, don’t try to use your intellectual knowledge to deceive people. We are simple people, we want bread and butter. We are simple; we want honest leadership, the truth. Are you our leader, they will ask you the individual and all of you kana muchiita izvi? Ndiri kutaura izvi nekuti vese vakomana vakanga vakatungamirira mumaper vakatandwa kuchinotorwa veMDC vachiiswa kuti imi makati tonho muchifunga kuti tine munhu arikutiitira zvakanaka, the devil incarnate.” In what appeared to a warning shot at Moyo, Mugabe said: “We must know who our enemies are, even amidst us, kick them out and fish them out.” Mugabe singled out Moyo for praise at the party national conference in December saying he had engineered the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front victory at last year’s elections. Moyo is reported to be behind Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa in the battle for succession and is allegedly purging Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s supporters. It is not clear if Mugabe’s outburst will see Moyo being fired as that could have serious repercussions. Could it see a repeat of the same scenario 10 years ago?
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