Mnangagwa warns Mugabe I am coming back in a few weeks to lead the party

My family was banished to Zambia when I was still  in primary school for resisting the oppressive rule of the white minority regime in 1955. This action hardened my resolve for justice and black empowerment. I joined the United National Independent Party (UNIP) led by Dr. Kenneth Kaunda at a tender age and have been active in politics ever since. At 18 years of age I was recruited by the late Willie Musarurwa to join ZAPU and sent for military training to Tanzania and Egypt. A year later in August 1963 to be precise, I broke away with some cadres to join the newly formed Zimbabwe African National Union. I was subsequently sent for advanced military training in China which I completed in May 1964. Some of my group members were Edson Shirihuru, Lawrence Svosve, John Shonhiwa and James Mudavanhu. We became known as the famous Crocodile Group. Despite the hardships of the times, we operated in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) travelling entirely by foot in order to avoid arrest.

Some of my colleagues were betrayed by sell outs, arrested and hanged. The same fate befell me in 1965, I was arrested, tortured and sentenced to death. The death sentence was subsequently commuted on a technicality to ten years imprisonment which I served in various prisons in Zimbabwe while at the same time I advanced my education through correspondence.

After my release, I was deported back to Zambia where I completed my Law Degree. After my Law Degree, I voluntarily left Zambia to join the Liberation struggle in Mozambique in 1976 where I was assigned as the Special Assistant to the President, Cde R.C. Mugabe. This role was reconfirmed at the Chimoio Congress in 1977. I have been very close to the President ever since. We have avoided life threatening situations together. I even doubled up as his personal bodyguard. In return, the President has passed on to me life skills which have put me in good stead throughout my long period in government. Our relationship has over the years blossomed beyond that of master and servant but to father and son. My mouth has never uttered a single foul word against the President nor have I ever contemplated bringing him harm in any way. I therefore find it preposterous that any sane person can lyrically direct such accusations towards me.

Of late, I have been vilified beyond measure. My service to the party and government of Zimbabwe and my public and private posture towards my boss are well known. No amount of lies and convoluted thinking can diminish my loyalty to my party and the President. I have never appointed or surrogated myself in any position in the Party or in Government. I remain firm and resolute against those who plunder public funds and are used by foreign countries to destabilize the Party. These same people are brazenly protected in public by the First Lady thereby making a mockery of our public institutions. I stand prepared, once again, to pay the ultimate price in defence of Zimbabwe. I am not afraid of anyone or worried about my political future under the current “Party Capture” that is being tolerated and condoned by the First Family. I implore all genuine members of ZANU PF to reject this “Party Capture” by a few individuals as I hereby do unequivocally. This is not the Zanu-PF we established with the late Dr. J. M Nkomo and other luminaries who have passed on. This is now a party controlled by undisciplined, egotistical and self-serving minnows who derive their power not from the people and party but from only two individuals in the form of the First Family who have now privatized and commercialized our beloved institution.

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