Higher Education Minister Jonathan Moyo and Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa may not have been seeing eye to eye for quite some time, if a cable dispatched by the United States embassy way back in December 2001, only a year after Moyo joined government, is anything to go by.
Mnangagwa, who had just lost his Kwekwe seat to novice Blessing Chebundo of the Movement for Democratic Change but had been rescued by President Robert Mugabe when he was appointed Speaker of Parliament, told United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Joseph Sullivan about his disdain for Moyo who was Information Minister then.
He disliked Moyo so much that he wished Moyo’s Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, a draconian law meant to gag journalists and the media, would never be passed.
It was.
Moyo has been on Mnangagwa’s case since he was elevated to Vice-President and accuses Mnangagwa of trying to oust Mugabe variously labeling Mnangagwa and his colleagues successionists.
The latest episode involves Mnangagwa holding a mug cup written I’m the boss. Coming at a time when Mnangagwa was acting President while Mugabe is on leave, this has been taken to imply that Mnangagwa is ready to take over.
Moyo tweeted: "When pictures not only tell more than a thousand words,but also deepen the power grab narrative…"
Several Western publications have implied that Mnangagwa is really running the show with Mugabe at the helm and globetrotting.
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