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Gen Chiwenga

From Lovemore Chikova in Victoria Falls
SENIOR Zanu-PF officials fighting for top posts at the party’s elective National People’s Congress in December, must stop dragging everyone into their smear campaigns, including the military, Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine Chiwenga said yesterday.
Speaking in an interview after officially opening a ZDF health conference here, Gen Chiwenga said while the army was not prone to intervening in the party’s internal politics, there was no way it could be wished away.

“What you have got to understand (is that) some people are seeking high political posts and if they fail to get them, they try to smear everyone, but this does not work,” he said.

“Go out there (and campaign). You can’t wish us away because we brought independence but we left it there. This is the only country in the world where you have never seen military intervention, interfering with civilian rule.”

Gen Chiwenga said the infighting in Zanu-PF was a passing phase.
“Iyezvi tiripano apa muri kutotibvunza isu tiri kuLesotho uko ndiko kwatinomhanyira kunogadzirisa the same people vakaita saivava vanotaura kuti isusu dai tatanga, ndabvisirwei dai ndaramba ndiripo (You are asking us but we are trying to solve the Lesotho crisis caused by infighting),” he said.

“How can we resolve other people’s problems when we have a similar challenge here?  So, this is a passing phase, this is just a matter of time.”
Zimbabwe, as chair for the Sadc region, will lead a one-day summit on Wednesday in South Africa convened in a bid to solve the Lesotho crisis sparked by an attempted coup in the last few weeks.

Gen Chiwenga castigated some sections of the press, which attempted to play the army against Zanu-PF by insinuating that it was involved in party power struggles.
“First of all, we don’t play around (with) what comes out in the press,” he said. “Remember you are doing a job which you must make sure that your paper gets saleable and sometimes getting saleable in a wrong way.

“Zimbabwe is a country which is ours. You, as you are asking me, you are not Alpha and Omega, you must leave and bequeath Zimbabwe which is healthy to the next generation.”

Gen Chiwenga said the fact that the ZDF members brought independence did not mean that they should get involved in petty power struggles.
He said Zimbabwe was more important to the army than individuals.

“Ours is to defend Zimbabwe, its people, its wealth, the independence and her national interest,” said Gen Chiwenga. “People often make a mistake, you can’t take it away from us that we brought independence to the country, but that does not make us get involved in these minor issues.

“We have a lot to deal with, you know issues which threaten Zimbabwe and we have made it very clear, only if Zimbabwe is being threatened then we will come in. If anybody threatens Zimbabwe externally we will deal with that situation.

“So, where people try to drag in and bring us in, that game we know it very well. That’s how we liberated the country. Even when we were liberating the country, we were being told by some papers when they (Ian Smith regime) killed innocent people they would say they were assisting terrorists. We are the same terrorists, isn’t it?”

Gen Chiwenga said they were bound to defend what thousands of liberation war fighters died for.
“The country comes first than individuals and the country and its people are more important than anybody else,” he said. “Those souls we left out there, we who are here we are very few, thousands of our colleagues perished and all what we do is to defend what they died for.”

Infighting within Zanu-PF intensified in the last few months as party bigwigs attempt to position themselves for posts at the December elective congress.
The fights intensified during the Youth League and the Women’s League conferences last month where some senior party officials were implicated in vote buying and manipulation of voters.

There were allegations of vote buying and threats to those who opposed the senior officials’ moves.
President Mugabe has since castigated the senior officials for being pre-occupied with gaining power instead of moving forward government programmes like the Zim-Asset economic blueprint.