Chiwenga, who was given the protocol role of introducing Mnangagwa as guest of honour to deliver his keynote address, instead delivered what some consider a hard-hitting, politically loaded speech that exposed the deepening rivalry between the two leaders and the growing strife over ZANU PF’s succession battle.
While introducing the President, Chiwenga pointedly asked what had motivated the creation of the Second Republic — the 2017 military-assisted transition that ousted the late former president Robert Mugabe. He said it came about to correct past mistakes and then asked delegates: “Are we not repeating the same mistakes?”
He called for a “brutal and honest self-appraisal” of the ruling party and questioned whether conference resolutions genuinely reflect the will of ordinary grassroots members or are engineered and imposed by a select few at the top.
The Vice-President stressed that ZANU PF belongs to the people, not to individuals, and that leaders are merely “temporary custodians”.
Speaking to The NewsHawks, Mutsvangwa said Chiwenga had “opportunistically abused the granted privilege” to introduce his boss to pursue what he called a “self-centred and furtive pursuit of dictatorial aspiration for political power”.
“Ah… that one… he opportunistically abused the granted privilege to introduce H.E. as guest of honour. His dissonant welter of ‘wrongs’ was brushed aside,” Mutsvangwa said.
“He laboured in vain much like a loose bolt in a car engine. He remained thereafter hoping for follow-up support. None came. He was just shrugged off. No political harvest at all for unrequited political ambition.
“The EDM bus of economic deliverables through Vision 2030 and prospect of middle-income nation prosperity rolled over his self-centred and furtive pursuit of dictatorial aspiration for political power.”
Mutsvangwa, who has previously criticised what he calls Chiwenga’s unbridled ambition and what ZANU PF insiders describe as an entitlement mentality stemming from the 2017 coup, said the Vice-President had seized a protocol opportunity to display his unchecked presidential ambitions rather than deal with the conference agenda.
He has previously defended Mnangagwa against his deputy and accused Chiwenga of trying to turn the ZANU PF praesidium into a “kangaroo court”.