The former Finance Minister in Robert Mugabe’s government, and now vocal critic of the ZANU PF regime, said recently that all is not well in Zimbabwe. He was speaking during an interview with South Africa’s eNCA news channel, where he compared life in Rhodesia to present living in Zimbabwe. Makoni said that Mugabe and his party were responsible for worse brutality being suffered by Zimbabweans now, than what was experienced by Rhodesians under the Ian Smith regime.
The state media has since reacted by accusing Makoni of ‘treason’, quoting ZANU PF aligned commentators and ‘analysts”.
The ZBC quoted Gabriel Chaibva, a ZANU PF member and former high ranking CIO official, as saying that Makoni is “clearly playing to the gallery of westerners who want to see a change of government” in the country.
Another loyalist, Dr. Charity Manyeruke, who is reportedly an advisor to Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, is quoted as saying that Makoni’s comments are a sign “of a frustrated man who will do anything to revive his fading political career. “
She said people like Makoni, who leave and make ‘irresponsible’ comments outside Zimbabwe, should be charged with treason as their actions are “tantamount to selling out.”
Makoni on Monday dismissed the allegations and challenged the analysts to learn “what constitutes treason.”
“Quite clearly what I said was not in the faintest idea treasonous. To suggest I committed treason was ignoble,” Makoni told SW Radio Africa.
He then went on to repeat the comments he made during his eNCA interview:
“The key point I made (in that interview) was that in Rhodesia we lived in fear and in Zimbabwe we still live in fear. I said in Rhodesia, the Rhodesians did not set upon their own. There is no record of the Rhodesia arm setting upon a community of whites in Borrowdale, in Mount Pleasant,” Makoni said.
He continued: “In Zimbabwe we have a record of political agents setting upon villages and townships and communities and brutalising them for holding different political views. So these are the comments I made. Nowhere can you suggest this is committing treason,” Makoni said.
He also said that the reaction from ZANU PF to his comments was a sign of the party’s own inability to handle the truth.
“They are not capable of dealing with issues. When they are confronted with harsh truths they take comfort in abuse and aggression. They call you names and give you labels, but run away from confrontation,” Makoni said. – SW Radio Africa
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