Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday moved to allay fears that the weekend Chitungwiza murder-suicide case that saw a Zanu PF member killing two colleagues, was linked to political violence.
Mnangagwa assured potential investors that Zimbabwe was stable politically despite beliefs by many in the politics world, including western embassies, that political violence is resurfacing in the country.
He was responding to questions in parliament where MDC-T lawmakers, among them Mkoba lawmaker Amos Chibaya, quizzed the leader of the House on factional fighting in Zanu PF which they said was scaring away potential investors and affecting the economy.
The United States Embassy in Harare and the European Union on Tuesday condemned the increasing cases of intra and inter-party violence that are being recorded in the country and urged Harare to move with speed to ensure perpetrators are brought to book.
But Mnangagwa told parliament there’s nothing to worry about, adding the Chitungwiza case was a criminal case that should be treated as such with no links to political violence.
Chibaya told VOA his concern is that the ruling party is no longer focusing on running the country, adding ministers are busy boycotting parliamentary sessions as succession politics takes center stage as President Robert Mugabe becomes increasingly frail.
Mnangagwa refuted the MDC allegations that he has taken his eye off the ball, refuting also claims that he has changed his normal habits to protect himself in light of worsening factional fights in Zanu PF.
“The truth of the matter is that he was not honest and did not answer the question,” said Chibaya of Mnangagwa’s responses in parliament today.
“He was trying to hide but frankly speaking , what is happening in Zanu PF is actually destroying our economy because one of the conditions which is considered by investors if they want to invest in a country is stability. In this case their infighting and their power struggle is actually affecting investment in our country.”
Chibaya said only 10 of at least 30 questions on the order paper were answered as the majority of government ministers failed to turn-up.
Wednesday’s are reserved for a question and answer session but MPs have been complaining that their queries are staying on the order paper too long as ministers fail to turn-up.
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Interview With MDC-T Lawmaker Amos Chibaya