Vice President Constantino Chiwenga says Zimbabwe’s opposition will never dislodge President Emmerson Mnangagwa from office, claiming that Mnangagwa was anointed by God.
Chiwenga, who addressed thousands of people at a Zanu PF rally in Mashonaland West at the weekend before introducing Mnangagwa, attacked Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change, labelling him a “little bishop and false prophet”.
According to the state-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper, Chiwenga said Mnangagwa will stay in office until he leaves on his own and not by losing power to the opposition.
“In all the coming elections, no one is going to remove Shumba Murambwi (President Emmerson Mnangagwa). We are here until he feels it is the time to go and when we have fully restored our country to its former glory and when everything is in order. No one must dream of being the president. We want our country to prosper and it is time to move the country forward. It’s no longer time for bickering and politics. From here going forward, we are now talking of politics of development, of building the country and moving the country forward.
“Politics of child’s play will not help us in any way. Shumba Murambwi is there to stay because he is an anointed one from the King. Never ever dream that after so and so years it will be your time, there is no vacancy, there is nowhere to get in. Listen and listen very carefully. To those who were howling in these last days, keep quiet and keep quiet forever. We want to build a strong Zimbabwe that can move forward. There is nothing he has done wrong, the son from the Shumba clan.”
The privately-owned NewsDay newspaper also quoted Chiwenga as saying Chamisa should forget about ruling Zimbabwe.
“We hear that this young preacher is going around telling people that he is on his way to State House. That is wishful thinking. There is no vacancy at State House now and forever for opposition parties …We are saying [this] to you blind ones who could not see and voted for this little bishop, the false prophet. He elects himself and the fire refuses to light up. He elects himself and the birds return to the podium (bird photographed sitting on Chamisa’s head at an MDC rally).
Chamisa was captured on video attempting to light what his party described as a democracy flame the day his party declared him president of Zimbabwe.
Reposing to Chiwenga’s remarks, Chamisa wrote on Twitter, “I am praying for my Sekuru Mr Chiwenga. He really needs grace! I thank him for acknowledging my faith and ordaining me a prophet. Why does he sound like the Rhodesian Smith in his ‘not in a thousand years mantra’! This Nov is when Smith declared UDI and you know it!”
The MDC leader still claims that Mnangagwa was fraudulently elected president in the July 30 presidential election held this year.
Mnangagwa won the election with 50.8 percent of the vote -- just enough to meet the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a run-off against Chamisa, who scored 44.3 percent. That percentage was eventually reduced to 50.6 percent by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission before the Constitutional Court hearing.