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(NEWZIMBABWE) Tsvangirai no better than Mugabe: Dabengwa

Tsvangirai no better than Mugabe: Dabengwa
02/07/2010 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

INTERIM ZAPU leader, Dumiso Dabengwa says Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is no different from President Robert Mugabe and dismissed Dr Simba Makoni as a “braai stick” he used to ensure none of the main presidential contenders in 2008 won an outright mandate.

Speaking to party members at Gwamayaya in Nkayi North on Wednesday, Dabengwa said he had used ex-finance minister, Makoni, to stop both Mugabe and Tsvangirai from winning an outright majority in the disputed elections.

He said after failing to convince Mugabe to step down for a younger leader and having misgivings about Tsvangirai’s leadership capabilities, a decision was made to stop the veteran Zanu PF leader and his MDC-T rival from winning and indisputable mandate to govern.

The former Home Affairs minster, now leading efforts to revive PF ZAPU, was the only senior Zanu PF member to ditch the party and back Makoni’s bid for the presidency in 2008.

Makoni took 8.3 percent of the presidential vote thus preventing both Mugabe (43.2 percent) and Tsvangirai (47.9 percent) from winning outright in the first round.

Dabengwa said the decision to back Makoni was informed by a conviction that a “one-on-one electoral battle between Mugabe and Tsvangirai would spawn disastrous consequences for the country, who-ever won”.

“We used Makoni to stop both the old man and Tsvangirai whose track record we did not feel would make him a good president. Makoni was a braai stick. You put away the braai stick when you have finished roasting and then enjoy your meat,” the former Zipra supremo said.

The ZAPU leader launched a withering attack on Tsvangirai claiming the premier was no different from Mugabe “in his attitude and actions”. He further criticised Tsvangirai for refusing to enter into a coalition with other opposition groups adding the MDC-T leader wanted his party to be the only dominant political player in the country.
Dabengwa said the strategy to use Makoni had paid-off as both Mugabe and Tsvangirai were forced to negotiate a coalition government leading to the relative easing of political tensions and the improvement of the country’s economy.

“We achieved our aim of stopping both devils from being in power alone. We are now eating the braai. That is why ZAPU is back. Let us enjoy the braai. It is now anyone’s game and we are in with a very strong chance,” he said.



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Thenjiwe Lesabe, another former senior Zanu PF official also told the meeting that Dabengwa had “never been Zanu PF at heart” despite sitting in the party’s high councils and serving under Mugabe as a cabinet minister.

“He (Dabengwa) was never Zanu-PF in his heart even during the Unity Accord period. He could have joined Zanu when he was imprisoned for five years during Gukurahundi. Zanu promised him freedom within minutes if he left ZAPU and joined Zanu, but (Dabengwa) and his late fellow Zipra commander Lookout Masuku (said they) would rather die in prison than join Zanu,” Lesabe said.

She added that Dabengwa only joined the new government after the 1987 Unity Accord when “ordered” to do so by the late PF ZAPU leader and national vice president Joshua Nkomo.

“Most of us were very excited about being ministers and riding the new Mercedes Benz (vehicles), but Dabengwa was not impressed. It took an order from his commander-in-chief (Nkomo) to join Zanu, and being the soldier he is, he obeyed that order but his heart was not in Zanu.

“Nkomo told him: ‘pretend you don’t feel your wounds my boy, Zanu will kill all the people if we don’t join them’,” Lesabe said.

Labels: DUMISO DABENGWA, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, ZAPU

posted by MrK @ 5:12 PM