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Chimene hits back at Tshinga Dube

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MANICALAND Provincial Affairs minister Mandi Chimene scoffed at allegations by War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube that she threatened to assault him before unleashing sangoma on him.

MANICALAND Provincial Affairs minister Mandi Chimene scoffed at allegations by War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube that she threatened to assault him before unleashing sangoma on him.

BY OBEY MANAYITI

Chimene told NewsDay yesterday that Dube’s allegations were unfounded and only motivated by sheer malice.

Dube said the incident happened in Mutare at the weekend, when he, together with Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi and War Veterans’ ministry permanent secretary Walter Tapfumaneyi were trying to unite ex-freedom fighters, who are deeply divided along Zanu PF factional lines.

“Don’t you think that he is mad? If I was to assault him, he would surely die and I will go to jail, but what use will it be,” Chimene said.

“I have been insulted numerous times by many people. Why should I start by assaulting him among those that have insulted me? Instead of lying, he should tell people the real story.”

She said the alleged sangoma was a student at Marymount Teachers’ College, whose relatives died during the war.

She said the student often comes to war veterans meetings “possessed” by an ancestral spirit, claiming Dube knew the person, as they met in Mozambique during the exhumation of remains of some of the fallen heroes.

The Manicaland Provincial minister said the “student” showed up at First Lady Grace Mugabe’s rally in Chiweshe early this year.

Chimene said on that particular day, the student went to the high table and was whisked away to allow the meeting to proceed before returning at the end, where Dube later claimed she was a sangoma unleashed on him.

“Dube should tell the nation how I threatened him. They think they are destroying me, but they are actually giving me too much publicity for nothing. Why are they promoting me this much? Maybe they identified something in me that I haven’t seen and they want to destroy it as soon as possible, but they will not succeed,” she said.

Chimene said she does not lead any war veterans’ faction and the reason why she moved a motion to expel part of the Christopher Mutsvangwa-led executive was because he had failed to toe the Zanu PF line.

Meanwhile, war veterans yesterday agreed to work with Zanu PF ending months of feuding between the two parties.

In a statement after a six-hour meeting with the War Veterans ministry, the ex-freedom fighters said they were ready to work with Zanu PF, provided it changed its modus operandi and put an end to purging of those suspected of having diverted from the party’s ideologies.

Under the umbrella body of Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association, the Mutsvangwa-led camp told government — represented by Dube and his top staff — that Zanu PF had been hijacked by a cabal determined to destroy the party from within.

“In this regard, they (war veterans) expressed clearly that if these issues are not addressed urgently, the enemy pronounced intentions of effecting regime change from within will manifest,” read a statement following the meeting. “They saw the current rift between the party and the war veterans as being orchestrated from within the party by elements, who are determined to destroy the party from within at the behest of architects of regime change.”