Marshall Bwanya
Harare—Zanu PF spokesperson and war veteran, Christopher Mutsvangwa, has made explosive claims that appear to implicate Vice President Constantino Chiwenga in the 23 June 2018 White City Stadium bombing.
President Mnangagwa was nearly killed by the explosive, which ricocheted off a rope at the VIP stand during an election campaign in Bulawayo.
The blast, which exploded a few inches from Mnangagwa as he departed, killed two close security details and shrapnel injured some high ranking party officials who included vice presidents Kembo Mohadi and Chiwenga, chairperson Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri and the speaker of parliament, Jacob Mudenda.
An estimated 47 people were injured.
In video footage taken at that time, Chiwenga is seen rushing for his then wife, Marry, and pushing her for cover just before the blast.
In a June 2018 interview with the state media, Mnangagwa blamed his “normal enemies” for the attempt on his life.
Later, he publicly claimed that investigations had identified those behind the plot but did not name them, nor have any arrests been made seven years after.
Speaking at public address recently, Mutsvangwa suggested that the attack was an inside job orchestrated by elements within the military and a rival political faction.
“Even our army had to make a choice to support the people and the war veterans (during the 2017 coup). But from within those ranks, there have been others tempted by the same forces to make sure Mnangagwa’s rule should be stopped by any means.
“And remember, we had an assassination against the president at White City Stadium. The grenade hit a rope and he was saved. This job was inside, people from within doing it,” said Mutsvangwa.
His comments, though veiled, are widely interpreted as a thinly disguised accusation aimed at Chiwenga, the powerful vice president and former Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) commander who led the 2017 coup that brought Mnangagwa to power.
Mutsvangwa said the perpetrators of the failed assassination were the ones sponsoring Blessed Geza, a firebrand war veteran who is currently in hiding after a series of public spates against Mnangagwa.
Geza, who Mutsvanga described as “loose cannon war veteran”, has been calling for Mnangagwa to step down and make way for Chiwenga, who has not publicly distanced himself from the outspoken former central committee member.
Geza, mostly appearing in military fatigue, is rumoured to have been accommodated at the Josiah Tongogara Magama army barracks in Harare when he went underground to continue with his campaign against the president, recently calling for mass action today as Zanu PF holds a tense national conference in the border city of Mutare.
The army has not explicitly refuted the rumour.
Mutsvangwa insinuated that there was a pro-Chiwenga faction within Zanu PF that was, once again, plotting to use the military to influence political outcomes as was the case in 2017 when the military played an active role in pushing the late long-ruling Robert Mugabe out of power and replacing him with a civilian face in the form of Mnangagwa.
“They create this phantom called Geza, but (he) is really a spokesperson for somebody inside,” Mutsvangwa said.
The remarks come against a growing cold war between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga.
Chiwenga, in his first direct attack on Mnangagwa, recently flagged a dossier during the meeting of the politburo—the Zanu PF communist-style highest decision-making body in-between congresses—that accused several individuals linked to the president of looting more than US3.2 billion from state coffers.
Mnangagwa has since restructured the Zanu PF politburo, empowering his most trusted lieutenants—including Justice minister, Mudenda and Ziyambi Ziyambi and Patrick Chinamasa—to consolidate control over the party’s administration as well as legal and financial arms.
Ziyambi, the new legal affairs secretary, has just produced a report addressed to Mnangagwa in which he rebutted all the accusations in the Chiwenga dossier, describing the vice president as “treasonous” and “reckless”.