(Last Updated on June 8, 2014 by Editor)
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe yesterday racheted up his withering and unexpected tirade against the minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Jonathan Moyo.
Speaking at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, at the burial of former Cabinet minister Nathan Shamuyarira, Mugabe said Zanu PF had been infested by weevils which should be taken care of.
This follows Mugabe’s brutal criticism of Moyo on Friday night when he described the minister as the “devil incarnate”.
Analysts who spoke to the Daily News on Sunday said Mugabe’s savage attack on Moyo was a clear sign that he wanted to hang on to power forever.
The analysts also pointed out that factionalism in Zanu PF had reached alarming levels that the situation could explode into an open war.
Mugabe yesterday went a gear up lashing out at Moyo, saying he was causing confusion in Zanu PF and must quit politics for football.
Political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya said Mugabe used Moyo to win the 2013 elections but now finds no use for him.
“….First in the 2000 elections; 2008 controversial presidential rerun and the 2013 disputed elections.
“Mugabe and his coterie are very ungrateful. Were it not for Moyo and the military elite that he oils with ideas, Zanu PF and Mugabe would not have been in power today,” Ruhanya said.
“Mugabe has shown a tendency of ditching Moyo and most people aligned to the Mnangagwa camp after election despite the fact that it is this group that
uses all kinds of dirty politics for him and his party to remain in power illegitimately,” added Ruhanya.
Mugabe yesterday accused Moyo of dishonesty and lacking principled vision likening him to a skilful football player.
“Shamuyarira had a people-oriented direction when he was minister of Information and not these little ideas of how I can get so and so. Hatidi munhu anonzvengesa vanhu sebhora (We do not want people who dribble others as in football). Kana wafunga zvekunzvengesa (If you want to dribble), why don’t you go and join Highlanders or Dynamos,” Mugabe said to an applauding crowd.
Mugabe who on Friday described Moyo as a counter-revolutionary who had employed Zanu PF enemies as editors at Zimpapers yesterday claimed the party had been infiltrated.
He likened his party to grain that had been attacked by grain weevils that bore into the seed rendering it inedible saying he would speedily deal with them to save the party from total collapse.
Mugabe said Shamuyarira was a good leader and would not allow Genetically Modified Organism products (GMOs) or bad seed into the country because he was principled.
“Take care now, Shamuyarira uyu aiva murimi mukuru. VaMade vanoti ngatichengetedzei mbeu dzedu nekuti havadi maGMO. Pakati pedu pane zvipfukuto. Ndiani anoziva kunobva zvipfukuto? Ini handizive kuti zvipfukuto zvinobvepi, handizive kuti mai vazvo vakaita sei asi ndinozoongoona muchibage mangu mava nezvipfikuto,” (Shamuyarira was a great farmer. Made advises us to take care of our maize seed because he does not like GMOs. In our midst there are weevils which we do not know where they come from.)
“MuZanu mune zvipfukuto, Zanu ine zvipfukuto woye. Manje kana chipfukuto chapinda mutsanga ingava nyemba kana chibage haichadyika wotoda chidokohori ( Zanu is full of weevils. Let us do away with these weevils and get rid of them because they make the seed inedible,” said Mugabe adding that “Let us lift our youth muparty and see kuti havapfukutwe here.” (Let us promote the youths in the party and see if they behave the same).
Mugabe stressed that his Zanu PF party was a straightforward one which understood the aspirations of the people and urged party supporters to remain united.
The nonagenarian also said information needed to be managed properly in a way that benefits the people in educating them about what the country’s leadership was doing.He slammed party leaders who treated each other as enemies when they differ forgetting to fight their common enemy — Westerners whom he said were keen on grabbing the country’s natural resources.
“Do not plant seeds to divide the people. Do not make anyone in the party a political enemy. Your ideas may differ but do not be enemies. If that is your ideology then it is a destructive ideology.”
“Your principles must be right. We are fighting outside forces. They want us to surrender our resources to them ‘‘Mugabe said.
Moyo had a fall-out with Mugabe in 2004 after the failed Tsholotsho Declaration which sought to block vice president Joice Mujuru from ascending to her current position.