Categories: Stories

I was not the brains behind Grace Mugabe, Jonathan Moyo says

Closer to the December 2014 Congress, about two or so weeks, inexplicable concerns started mushrooming about Oppah Muchinguri’s suitability as a replacement for Joice Mujuru. Mnangagwa asked me to remove from the amendments we were working on, the provision that “one of the two vice presidents shall be a woman”. He said this was a directive from President Mugabe. This was the bombshell that caused the fallout. I could not believe my ears. I did as I was directed and from then on, the draft amendments were not sent back to me as had become the approach but were finalised between Mnangagwa and Patrick Chinamasa with Mnangagwa saying he was working directly with President Mugabe.

BSR: Many people were concerned that Mrs Mugabe was on a relentless drive to succeed her husband. When we wrote the story of Mamvura driving the bus, it was because there was a clear possibility that she could take control of the bus and yet she seemed ill-equipped and ill-experienced for the job. Did you understand people’s concern that she could actually end up on the wheel? Do you think she was ready to drive the bus?

ANSWER: I think every rational person understood the various permutations and possibilities but none of them justified a military coup. The proposition that the coup was done to stop Mrs Mugabe from succeeding her husband is uncivilised and undemocratic. But on whether I understood people’s concerns that Mrs Mugabe could have ended up on the wheel, the answer is yes, of course I did. How could I not? I however think that people should have been equally concerned about Mnangagwa ending up on the wheel. The fact of the matter is that Mamvura is now driving the bus.

 

Next: Jonathan Moyo says my beef with Mnangagwa is over Gukurahundi

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This post was last modified on November 12, 2018 12:50 pm

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Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

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