President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesman George Charamba says Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga are inseparable- vakapfekana- and the so-called conflict between them is a media creation.
He told the Standard that probably because of the tension that existed within the presidency of Robert Mugabe, the media has grown to believe that there must always be conflict within the presidency.
“It has spilt over from pre-November and was motivated by the G40, and that thinking still lingers in your newsrooms and is looking for validity in changing circumstances and so there must be conflict and if it is not there it must be invented so that the theory of conflict continues and you say who is more likely to be an adversary of the President and you think it must be Chiwenga,” Charamba said.
“I have noticed two divisive strategies pursued by people opposed to the current leadership. The first is to allege conflict and invent it.
“The second is to invent illness – that VP Chiwenga is dying and bed ridden, and given my state in government I can relate to them because those are techniques to destabilise an outfit, except that we have three trained soldiers, two intelligence ministers, and one is commander in the presidency – and how do you divide them?”
Charamba said: “You (media) invented that conflict, and I live close to those characters and then you make allegations.
“If only you knew the degree of interaction between the two (Mnangagwa and Chiwenga).
“If you knew no one would pick a pen and put that line, actually vakapfekana (they are tight buddies). It is the same with Mohadi, each time we are together there is laughter through and through.
“That is the convivial environment that characterises the presidency, but there are certain groups in society which feel threatened by the harmony in the presidency and want conflict, but no such conflict exists and will ever exist.”
Below is an extract from the Standard interview
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