feel to be back?
PC: I feel very great to be back home. But the expulsion remains the saddest moment of my life in Zanu PF. Some people in my party sitting comfortably in their offices, without due consideration, just thought of framing issues as a way of dislodging me from my position. Remember I was chairman for Mashonaland West province and MP for Chinhoyi. Some of the accusations were premised on the Tsholotsho debacle that resulted in an ugly turn of events.

GC: What really caused your dismissal from the party?
PC: To be honest with you up to now the issues have not been disclosed to me but what I know is that some people in my province started peddling all sorts of lies, and even criminalising me. There is a lot of treachery among friends but Zanu PF was the biggest sufferer of that action to expel me.

GC: What do you mean by that?
PC: Like I said earlier, I was chairman of Mashonaland West and Chinhoyi MP. The province was and is still host to various strategic constituencies that have an urban inclination and as you know, urban centres are my strength.
But I saw the opposition gaining ground in those centres but my conviction is that the opposition should be removed from the urban centres, moreso considering the fact that it is President Mugabe’s home province.
GC: So what does the co-option mean to you?
PC: It is purely vindication of the things I had been accused of.
I must tell you I recently went on a tour of Chinhoyi and the reception I got from the people was unbelievable. Even at the recent Banket and Makonde Zanu PF meetings the turnout was just huge, with some people just coming to see and meet me.

GC: What value do you think you will add to the party, both at the district and provincial level?
PC: I may sound boastful, but this is as it is my brother. I have my own style of doing things, of course, in accordance with the party constitution but that style matches very well with the MDC and I know they are already quacking. To really derive value from my comeback, people should just respect my style and I tell you, at the age of 52 my style wins votes for Zanu PF. I am not overly worried with the existing support that we have but rather we should count on the vote still untapped.
My style allows me to sell the successes brought about by Zanu PF and like I said in Mutare some time ago, if my worth is US$250 million, I am prepared to sell it for the sake of Zanu PF to defend President Mugabe. The President and others sacrificed a lot to liberate us.
GC: You once told a gathering of students at some university that politics must never be mixed with business. What has now caused you to renege on your statement?
PC: The political environment in most African countries cannot be divorced from the economic environment. Indeed, I made that statement but circumstances have changed. Business thrives on the back of what will be happening in politics and if you ignore the political environment, your business is sure to cease to exist at the stroke of a change of policy or governance. You cannot avoid aligning yourself to politics. In fact people need to understand and appreciate the inseparability of business and politics.
GC: What circumstances have changed now for you to want to mix business with politics?
PC: You should not mix the two only when there is conflict where you have some people using politics to advance selfish agenda or to influence a transaction to their benefit. People who use politics to gain access for themselves should not be in politics. For me it is wrong for anyone to think I have gone back into politics for any benefit, it is actually the other way round.
I am back in politics as a national duty to serve the country given that others actually died for it. People have called me to come back and work with them and who am I to refuse. Why should I continue to sit back and locate myself in my swag and not work for the good of Zanu PF? I am in politics as a messenger for the people and to provide solutions to the populace.

GC: What are your views on factionalism within the party and how best do you think it should be handled?
PC: We should never waste time on factionalism, my brother. When people engage themselves in factions, the best redressive action is simply to conduct elections. For as long as the factions come up, call for elections to elect new leaders. That is the best way of dealing with it at district and provincial levels.

GC: People have said you use your relationship with the President to advance your selfish agenda. How true is this?
PC: My brother thanks for asking that one. I have strangely been misunderstood as the President’s brother, which is not true. Yes, I am his relation and that no one can take away but I have never used that relationship to my advantage. You must know that I am a successful businessman and the President is a successful politician. I am not as successful as President Mugabe is in politics.

GC: What are your impressions on indigenisation and empowerment?
PC: Our country is endowed with mineral and other resources. The biggest mining companies have come to invest here riding on the back of our ignorance but that should not be the reason why I should be disempowered.
So we have taken redressive action through affirmative action and indigenisation. We want total empowerment to redress the economic imbalance, otherwise why would a foreigner be accorded more than the voting indigenous people? The President declared war on economic imbalance and we now have people being empowered, in what I can call “a corrective order for colonisation.”

GC: When you were a legislator I remember you moved a motion to have the then Chief Justice Gubbay removed. What was it all about?
PC: Our freedom as independent people was being affected by having a white man as chief justice so it was about time the game changed. I was elected into Parliament to enforce national changes of that type. That change has to this day enabled the justice system to flourish as we now have the best judges and lawyers you can find anywhere in the world.

GC: What do you have to say those who caused your arrest and expulsion from Zanu PF?
PC: I have no problem with the past and what happened to me. But, let not the past enemy rear his/her head again, for I will deal ruthlessly with the children of Lucifer and God will forgive me, always.

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