Incumbent Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa must be given more time to ‘rule’ the country because he was once placed on the dreaded death row while others were merrymaking during the time of the liberation struggle, a former legislator has said.

According to dismissed Zanu PF Chivi South parliamentarian Killer Zivhu, the 77-year old leader who replaced deposed late dictator Robert Mugabe in a November 2017 coup, must be given ample time at the helm as a reward for his pre-independence sacrifices which saw him being confirmed a candidate for the guilotine by the Rhodesian regime.

the late Robert Mugabe

Zivhu said now was the time for Mnangagwa to enjoy the fruits of the ‘painful journey’ he traveled in the pursuit of realising Zimbabwe’s independence from the brutish British colonial rule, officially attained on 18 April 1980.

dismissed MP Killer Zivhu

“Munozviziva here kuti ED akamboinda pa death row pamusoro penyika ino? Regai atonge, zvinorwadza kumirira rufu uchiziva vamwe vachifara vachimwa doro (Do you know that Mnangagwa was once on death row because of this country? Let him rule; it is painful to face the guillotine while others are merrymaking),” Zivhu posted on his Twitter handle.

Directly addressing the Zanu PF leader in the vernacular Shona, the humiliatingly dismissed former ruling party MP said:

“President wangu rwendo rwenyu rwunorwadza rwamakafamba changamire yava nguva yenyu titongeyi tizipirwe (My President, the journey you’ve walked is painful; now is your time to rule us so that we enjoy)”.

During the bloody liberation struggle known as Chimurenga/Umvukela in 1965, the current Zimbabwe President who led a group of fighters called the Crocodile Gang, was arrested.

Due to overwhelming evidence incriminating the Crocodile Gang, which reportedly blew up several trains to sabotage the white minority regime, Mnangagwa was sentenced to death.

A longtime understudy of the late Mugabe, Mnangagwa escaped the hangman’s noose after his legal counsel successfully argued that he was 21, and deemed underage for the guillotine.

Zwnews