(Last Updated on September 14, 2015 by Editor)
ZIMBABWE – SACKED former War Veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda says he wants to rescue President Robert Mugabe from the clutches of a criminal gang within Zanu PF party but the former guerrilla leader is scared of him.
Sibanda was fired from the ruling party towards the end of last year on charges of undermining Mugabe and being part of a group of senior officials accused of plotting against the 91-year-old leader.
Mugabe has the power to summon all the leaders in the country to fix our problems.
He has power to summon me rather than use a rally to rant at me and threaten people with the military, Sibanda told journalists after addressing the Tendai Biti-led People’s Democratic Party congress where he once again called for a united front against Mugabe.
It should never be about how much power one wields or the size of the army someone commands but the quality of ideas one has to move the nation forward. That is how some of us judge revolutionaries, Sibanda said.
Asked if he thought Mugabe had deviated from the revolutionary path, Sibanda said Mugabe was being used.
They are using him. He is terrified even of me. They have instilled fear in him, telling him now and again that so and so wants to kill him.
Given his age, he is bound to believe anything that he is told him and now he has this vague idea of a Jabulani who wants to kill him. A created Jabulani who is larger than life in his mind’s eye, added Sibanda.
He said he would want to rescue the President but does not know how.
I feel angry that they are abusing an old man. I want to rescue him but because he is afraid of me how do I do that?
It is frustrating but this country needs Mugabe to realise that we need unity. Zanu PF does not need to be opposed it must be removed but before that Mugabe needs to rescue his legacy by doing one last good thing: swallow his pride and accept help from others, he said.
The ex-war veterans leader is awaiting trial for utterances he allegedly made in Mutare late last year.
Sibanda is alleged to have claimed that First Lady Grace had staged a bedroom coup and was now running both Zanu PF and the government. He allegedly added that power is not sexually transmitted.
As if to confirm Sibanda’s claims Grace told a rally in Kadoma a few months ago that Vice-Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko take instructions from her.