By Anna Chibamu
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ill-fated Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) has virtually crumbled after the departure of yet another high-profile figure, Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) chairman and co-founder Trevor Ncube.
Business leader and clergyman Shingi Munyeza also quit the outfit in 2020.
Addressing a business forum at the weekend, Ncube regretted ever joining the much-maligned grouping, saying he has since realised the project “will not end well”.
He also took a swipe at Mnangagwa for failing to unite the country and solve Zimbabwe’s socio-economic problems.
“After the 2017 coup, we got excited and we said this is it, let us go home and there was an amazing buzz. We thought Zimbabwean things would start to happen and I was one of those people that stood up and said give Emmerson Mnangagwa a chance, but how wrong I was,” Ncube said.
“Why did I say that? I said that because Mnangagwa had sat in the same room with Robert Mugabe (the late former President) and had seen what Mugabe did in the country and maybe he is really interested in turning things around but that was not the case,” he said, adding: “The people who launched democracy in Zimbabwe were interested in protecting their small personal interest, ethnic interest, business and economic interest. It was not for the benefit of everyone, and we are seeing it in terms of what has been happening since 2017.”
“I was generous in my spirit as a God-fearing man. I believed this man was about to do a turnaround for our country, again was I disappointed. I was actually approached and agreed to serve in the Presidential Advisory Council. I have set at close range with the President advising him on a number of issues, but I have since retired, stepped down because I have seen this thing is not going to end well,” Ncube added.
He claimed Mnangagwa was doing worse things than predecessor Robert Mugabe who ran the economy down through corruption and maladministration.
“We thought Robert Mugabe was bad but sadly President Mnangagwa has shown an amazing degree of doing things worse than President Mugabe ever did. The most frightening thing that President Mnangagwa has done is the mutilation of our constitution and the capture of our judiciary. If ever there is something that frightens me now, it is that,” Ncube forthrightly said.
“When they took away my passport, I went to court and fought in the confidence that if I argue, there was a judiciary that would listen to my case fairly and this happened. It took away my citizenship, I got lawyers to fight for my case and got it back because the judiciary was professional. However, that is no longer the case now and that frightens me.”
