Zimbabwe: Chiwenga Is Naive, Not a Politician, Was Castrated When He Dumped Military Post for Role Under Mnangagwa – Says Mliswa
VICE President Constantino is naive, has no people behind him and was “castrated” when he dumped his post as Commander of Defence Forces (CDF) for a political role under President Emmerson Mnangagwa, outspoken former legislator Temba Mliswa has said in another scathing attack.
Chiwenga, who is eyeing the presidency after Mnangagwa, is having to deal with a well-oiled faction within Zanu PF that is not only backing businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei to succeed but supporting the extension of their boss’s current term to 2030.
Mliswa is now part of this unit behind Tagwirei and Mnangagwa. He has not made his choice a secret over the past weeks.
Speaking on The Hot Seat, an online current-affairs show hosted by journalist Violet Gonda, Mliswa did not hold back. He ripped into Chiwenga over the hour-long interview available on YouTube.
“The Vice President has no political capital; he is not a politician and for him to become a president of this country he must be supported by the party structures which are political,” said Mliswa.
“He is not at all supported by the party structures. He does not even see eye to eye with the chairperson of his own province, Mashonaland East, Daniel Garwe. He is a soldier; he is not a politician.
“He has to go at ward, village, constituency, district, provincial then national level; these are the structures. I have never seen him at village, ward, constituency, provincial level, all I have seen him is in the Central Committee and Politburo lobbying for himself.
“When you have people, they lobby for you, you do not lobby for yourself. He has nobody behind him. He has no political capital.
“If at all he had political capital, why did he and his people not object to Resolution No. 1 of at the last conference in Bulawayo. He was sitting there, he did not object to it, he adopted it.
“He speaks on his own.”
Chiwenga has so far faltered in his attempts to shut out Tagwirei. His attempts to bar him from joining the party’s powerful Central Committee fell through when Tagwirei was eventually confirmed last week, while he was asked to redirect a litany of corruption allegations against him to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) or police.
Having led the military-assisted coup that toppled late President Robert Mugabe and installed Mnangagwa, very little is known about Chiwenga’s influence within the army or whether it still exists.
Added Mliswa: “It was naïve on his part to think that being a Vice President is powerful, it is not; if anything, he was castrated.
“As CDF you have power, you are probably the second most powerful person in the country after the President.
“He left a more powerful position and went for a weaker position. He is naïve, he was misguided, misinformed to think that when you are VP you will be President.
“He has no political capital at all because the very same war veterans that he relies on, the very same soldiers he relies on do not respect him because they have suffered yet he has been in key positions to uplift their welfare.
“The war veterans’ welfare has been a mess. Where has he been?”
By New Zimbabwe.
