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Jonathan Moyo pokes Chiwenga

Politics
HIGHER and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo has once again used his Twitter account to taunt the country’s security service chiefs over their role in national governance issues.

HIGHER and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo has once again used his Twitter account to taunt the country’s security service chiefs over their role in national governance issues.

BY RICHARD CHIDZA

The commander of the Defence forces General Constantine Chiwenga ,commander of the national army Lieutenant  Valerio Sibanda  and commander of the Air Force Perence Shiri-001
The commander of the Defence forces General Constantine Chiwenga ,commander of the national army Lieutenant Valerio Sibanda and commander of the Air Force Perence Shiri-001

Moyo posted his rants on Monday in response to remarks by Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander, General Constantine Chiwenga, who said the military were “stockholders of the Constitution and security guarantors”.

“We are stockholders of the country. Some are stakeholders. Stakeholders will come and go, but stockholders have nowhere to go, so we are stockholders, we came with it (Zimbabwe),” Chiwenga declared in an interview with the State media on Independence Day.

“For you to be comfortable, you take an insurance policy either for your vehicle or your house or for yourself in the event that you die. We are the national insurance policy for the country. We guarantee the security of Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans must always go daily about their chores, sleep well, eat well because we are there as their security guarantors.”

But in apparent reference to the statement and without mentioning names, Moyo posted: “To the extent that stockholders are stakeholders, the people are the only stockholders in and of Zimbabwe in terms of the Constitution.”

He added: “Individuals come and go, but the people remain. That’s why Zimbabwe’s Constitution recognises only the people as the only stockholders of power!”

Moyo’s comments and his continued use of social media to raise issues fly in the face of President Robert Mugabe’s repeated calls for his lieutenants to stop abusing social media to harangue each other.

A few months ago, Moyo used the same platform to respond to Information minister Christopher Mushohwe’s remarks that journalists should tread carefully when covering issues to do with the security sector.

“It’s wrong to say some sectors are outside media coverage. Nothing is above the Constitution.

It’s the law, stupid! The Constitution is supreme. So no sacred cows,” Moyo wrote then.

Moyo has also used social media to deride a Zanu PF faction linked to Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, popularly known as Team Lacoste, which reportedly has the backing of the majority of war veterans.

Permanent secretary in the War Veterans ministry Brigadier-General Walter Tapfumaneyi yesterday said there was nothing wrong with Chiwenga’s pronouncements.

“I do not want to go into polemics with Professor Moyo, but when somebody wants to remind war veterans of who the people of Zimbabwe are, it is unproductive. Chiwenga was speaking as both commander of the country’s statutory forces as well as a senior war veteran. He is reacting to a visible attempt in today’s politics where there is a new phenomenon of an elite youth that derives its power from parenthood of proximity to power and not from the struggle or ideological affinity to the party,” Tapfumaneyi said.

Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) spokesperson Douglas Mahiya said Moyo was on a mission to please “his Western masters”.

“It is a fact that Moyo worked for the Group of Elders who include (former United Nations secretary-general) Kofi Annan and (former South African President) Nelson Mandela, funded by the Americans and their Western allies. It must be understood that when the people of this country realised that they were under British oppression, they contributed human beings to form liberation movements in the form of Zanla and Zipra. This was transformed into the current national army. You cannot separate children from their parents because we are the products of our mothers and fathers,” Mahiya said.

ZNLWVA chairman Christopher Mutsvangwa described Moyo as a “lucky beneficiary of Mugabe’s benevolence”.

“A lucky beneficiary of President Mugabe’s policy of national reconciliation and saved from court martial or worse has no business moralising against those who went through the treadmill of a costly Chimurenga,” Mutsvangwa said.

Moyo, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, is reportedly linked to Zanu PF’s G40 faction that is reportedly subtly campaigning for First Lady Grace Mugabe to take over the reins of power from her 92-year-old husband.