General Chiwenga breathes fire, says Mugabe will be succeeded by a War Vet, not G40 sellouts
Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander, General Constantine Chiwenga has defied his boss and openly spoke on a subject related to succession, after President Mugabe warned him to stay clear of politics.
In a veiled attack on Grace Mugabe and her G40 faction, Chiwenga said President Mugabe will not be replaced by sellouts who did not participate in Zimbabwe’s liberation war.
Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony for a hospital to be built in Sengwe in Chiredzi South on Tuesday, Chiwengwa bravely opposed Grace Mugabe’s view on liberation status and Mugabe succession.
He said said the country can never be taken over by someone without liberation war credentials, something that the G40 trio of Grace Mugabe, Saviour Kasukuwere and Jonathan Moyo do not have.
The function was attended by several senior Army officers including Army Chief of Staff, General Trust Mugoba who made Zanu PF slogans at the end of the proceedings.
“We will never allow sellouts(G40) to take over this country,” declared Chiwengwa.
Zanu PF is divided through the middle with two factions namely G40 believed to be led by the First Lady Grace Mugabe and Lacoste which is loyal to Vice President Mnangagwa fighting to take over power from the ageing President.
G40 has few members who participated in the liberation struggle.
General Chiwenga was recently accused by the First Lady of supporting Mnangagwa in the succession politics. Mugabe himself warned the Army last month to stop dabbling in politics and said such action was tantamount to a coup. He also announced that he was going to retire top Army generals before the end of this year and generals had tended to observe Mugabe’s warning since then.
“Many lives were lost during the liberation struggle and that should give us more resolve on where we are coming from and where we are going as a country. We are facing many challenges as a people but we should not lose focus. The blood lost should not be in vain. We should continue to jealously guard our country and its sovereignty. We will never allow it to go into the hands of puppets(G40),” declared Chiwenga.