Tekere claims Mugabe wanted Mujuru as President

Tekere claims Mugabe wanted Mujuru as President

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By Torby Chimhashu

OUTSPOKEN veteran nationalist and Zanu founder member, Edgar Zivanai Tekere, has made stunning revelations of a pact between him and President Robert Mugabe that Vice President Joice Mujuru should one day be President of Zimbabwe.

The firebrand freedom fighter made the claim before a packed Quill Club in Harare Thursday night where he was a guest during the monthly QuillSpeak, organised by Harare journalists.

"We used to talk with most appreciation of Teurai Ropa," he said. "I and Mugabe agreed at independence that Teurai must be consistently elevated because of her achievements in the liberation war. She was outstanding.

"Mugabe said Teurai typified an exemplary woman in the struggle and was an outstanding female soldier who should be consistently promoted. What has gone wrong now?

"I wrote good things about Teurai Ropa in my book (A Lifetime of Struggle), now I am an enemy. I wrote the truth. Mugabe must leave Teurai alone. His time is up. He must go now," Tekere told journalists.

He said Mugabe acted consistently with what they had agreed at independence when he blocked attempts by the Emmerson Mnangagwa to ascend to the Vice Presidency in 2004 when he punished those who had gone to Dingane Secondary School to map out a counter strategy aimed at scuttling Mujuru's elevation.

In what was later known as the Tsholotsho Declaration, Mnangagwa, the Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs, was tipped to become Mugabe's deputy after he got support from six provinces.

However, Mugabe swiftly crushed the planned rebellion and axed six provincial chairmen and governors who had participated in the meeting.

The veteran leader wilfully changed the Zanu PF constitution to pave way for Mujuru who was elected Vice President of the party in Harare in December 2004. She automatically became Mugabe's deputy in government.

In a recent TV interview, Mugabe accused Tekere of being used by Mujuru to attack his liberation war credentials in a bid to undermine his legacy and force him out of power following the publication of his book. Tekere was expelled from Zanu PF for "insulting" Mugabe.

Tekere said: "Now Mugabe says Teurai wants to oust him from the Presidency. Ngaatisiyire Teurai wedu (He must leave alone our Teurai). There is nothing wrong with me writing about her achievements in the book. Anyway, we are going to see through the gust winds of confusion.

"Very soon Mugabe will clash with Teurai's husband (General Solomon Mujuru). Already he is calling him a faction leader," Tekere warned. "But the general is a good man. He is not cruel. Mugabe is the one who is cruel. He needs to go now with all his cruelty."

He defended his decision to chose Ibbo Mandaza as his publisher.

"Now Mugabe says Ibbo (Mandaza) apanduka. Where did Mugabe wanted me to go. Ibbo is a publisher. He (Mugabe) used him and took away everything from him. He has Ibborised everything.

"Ibbo started his Mirror (The Daily Mirror) but Mugabe took it from him and gave it to the CIO (Central Intelligence Organisation). Ibbo and I are friends. Ideologically we think the same. We are different from Mugabe who has no friends," Tekere lashed out.

Since the launch of Tekere's book, Mugabe has thrown brickbats at his former comrade whom he says is mad.

Tekere said instead of Mugabe villifying him and associating him with an attempt to propel Mujuru to power, the President must be grateful that he absolved him from any involvement in the death of Josiah Magama Tongogara.

In the autobiography, A Lifetime of Struggle, Tekere revealed how Tongogara died as a result of a car accident during a night drive up Northern Maputo towards the rural areas.

Tekere said Tongogara had been repeatedly dissuaded from travelling at night by the late Mozambican President Samora Machel "because the road was infested with landmines.

"He must give me credit for telling the nation that he did not kill Tongogara. If I am a thorn in his flesh, let it be. Anyway I have always been a thorn in his flesh," said Tekere.

The fiery former guerilla said he is unfazed by his expulsion from Zanu PF.

"I read it in the Sunday Mail. Anyway, there is nothing that can lure me back to it (Zanu PF). It is now a shell".

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