Is Charlton Hwende a double agent, crookedly planted to serve the interests of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the ruling ZANU (PF) while clothed in the yellow colors of Nelson Chamisa’s main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party or he is clandestinely looking for a way out of the popular opposition?
This is, perhaps, one of the most sticking questions that ardent followers of Zimbabwe’s perennially turbulent politics are currently asking themselves after the blabbermouthed controversial Secretary-General of the CCC has apparently been acting in ways that are contradictory to the traditional expectations of the so-called ‘Yellow Wave’.
Hwende, whose attendance of the main 42nd Uhuru celebrations graced by Mnangagwa in the second city of Bulawayo on April 18 raised eyebrows, was at the receiving end of Twimbos bloated on the micro-blogging site after he described slain former Lybian dictator, Muammar Gaddaffi as a ‘brother Leader killed for advocating for the unity of Africans’ in a caption accompanying the late tyrant’s image (below)’.
“Brother Leader killed for advocating for the unity of Africans (United States of Africa) and a common African Currency (Gold Dinar). We must continue pushing for these dreams and end the dominance of the US$,” tweeted Hwende in a post stubbornly atypical of a CCC top official.
At Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo where Mnangagwa addressed the gathering, the CCC SG was seated in the company of NCA leader Lovemore Madhuku, MDC-T’s Douglas Mwonzora, and LEAD President Linda Masarira.
The trio has been accused of derailing Chamisa’s presidential aspirations.
Hwende’s tweet invited a flurry of reactions from Twimbos, with a majority of them castigating the Kuwadzana parliamentarian for disregarding the need to ‘toe the CCC party line’ in relation to dictators on the continent, and elsewhere on Planet Earth.
Rabble-rousing activist and award-winning Zimbabwean investigative journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono was one of the many Twimbos who reacted to Hwende’s ‘careless’ remarks on Twitter.
Said Chin’ono in his response to Hwende’s Gaddafi tweet:
“If you say that Muammar Gadaffi is an African hero, then you should also say that (late Zimbabwean dictator) Robert Mugabe is an African hero! Both were tyrants, both killed thousands of Africans, both didn’t accept critics, they killed them! Both looted public funds, both ruled for decades. Facts only!”
Chin’ono further attached the image (below), clarifying why Gaddafi is a dictator who musn’t be hero-worshipped by personalities fronting the gospel of democracy.
Here are some of the reactions to Hwende’s tweet:
“ummmm how can the alternative praise a ruthless dictator killed by his own pple in the streets?u r admiring the wrong pple here and taking the wrong lessons,u should be asking what went wrong with the opposition after throwing out this rubbish– Tendai- @tendaim65even dictatorship cheerleaders like SAfrica voted to allow NATO to go into Libya,the guy was a terrible dictator,2ndly the SG is speaking of “ending the dominance of the USD” attacking the only countries that hv supported them at international platforms,wrong turn– Tendai- @tendaim65”@tendaim65 have you seen this? you know my policy. yes or no. chete chete– Khulisani Ndlela @kndlela55I say no to this ,someone is misleading the opposition (sic)– Tendai- @tendaim65Gaddafi was a dictator who took power through a coup, stayed in power for 42 years. His children were living the lives similar to those of Zimbabwean presidents. Libyans took up arms during Arab Spring to free themselves.Godknows Nyandoro- @GodknowsNyando1Dzimwe dzenguva ndoshaya kuti vakuru vedu, chii chaizvo. Vamwe vakakanda picture ina Mugabe vachimurumbidza svondo rino. Regai tiite 23 years tiri ku opposition nekuti vanhu vacho vakutungamira vanofarira dictators.Law Togaraseyi– @TogaraseyiLaw(Hwende) haadzidze, in 2019 he tried this Gaddafi thing of his and people where against it yet he keeps bringing it (sic). Apedza oti lets unite in our quest to remove ZANU. Dzimwe pfungwa soo
sibangilizwe mhlani– @waBuyaphi
