Zimbabweans on social media have been comparing him with the former prime minister of Rhodesia, the late Ian Douglas Smith.
While members of his administration have addressed the comparison, Mnangagwa had not directly addressed the issue until now.
Speaking during the burial of Retired Major-General Sydney “Yengani” Bhehe at the National Heroes Acre in Harare on Monday, Mnangagwa said that it was disheartening that Zimbabweans were comparing him to Ian Smith.
Major General Bhebe is the third retired general to pass away in the last two weeks following the deaths of Major-Generals Godfrey Chanakira and Sikhulile Nyathi.
He said only misinformed and misguided people would say that Ian Smith was better than him. He said:
It is most disheartening to hear some of our misinformed and misguided young people, peddling the grossly false narrative that life under lan Smith was better than that, after Independence. Foolish young people. The onus is on the older generation to constantly explain to the youth of our country that Ian Smith and those present-day counter-revolutionaries with similar inclinations, personified plunder and pillage of our motherland.
Mnangagwa said the comparisons were being made by people who wanted Zimbabwe to be a colony again. He said that will not happen as long as Zimbabwe is under Zanu-PF. Mnangagwa said:
These brutes of unrepentant supremacists seek to make Zimbabwe a country where Africans ourselves are disenfranchised and turned into puppets for their…economic benefit. This will never ever happen. Such colonial style capitalistic domination under whatever guise will never be accepted with Zimbabwe under the revolutionary party Zanu-PF.
You can watch Emmerson Mnangagwa responding to the comparison that Ian Smith was better than him below:
“It is most disheartening to hear some of our misinformed
and misguided young people, peddling the grossly false
narrative that life under lan Smith was better than that,
after Independence.” #Cmithzenspic.twitter.com/vFyX44prPf
— Nick Mangwana (@nickmangwana) June 20, 2022
Source – iHarare
Post published in: Featured
THIS IS LAUGHABLE. ‘personified plunder and pillage of our motherland.’ I THINK THAT IS THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE ISN’T IT? HOW MUCH MR PRESIDENT HAVE YOU AND YOUR WRETCHED CABAL PLUNDERED FROM ZIMBABWE? DOES IT RUN INTO THE BILLIONS OF US DOLLARS? ARE YOU WILLING TO SHARE WITH US THE TRUE NATURE OF YOU OVERSEAS BANK ACCOUNTS/ or is that asking too much? You and your friends both white and black will answer one day to God and then you will come face to face with those whose lives you have ended through you greed. You only thing you are right about is Ian Smith but you are certainly no better.
THIS IS LAUGHABLE. ‘personified plunder and pillage of our motherland.’ I THINK THAT IS THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE ISN’T IT? HOW MUCH MR PRESIDENT HAVE YOU AND YOUR WRETCHED CABAL PLUNDERED FROM ZIMBABWE? DOES IT RUN INTO THE BILLIONS OF US DOLLARS? ARE YOU WILLING TO SHARE WITH US THE TRUE NATURE OF YOUR OVERSEAS BANK ACCOUNTS/ or is that asking too much? You and your friends both white and black will answer one day to God and then you will come face to face with those whose lives you have ended through your greed. The only thing you are right about is Ian Smith, but you are certainly no better.