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Temba Dube, Online News Editor

ZANU PF has welcomed back, with open arms, Professor Jonathan Moyo and Mr Patrick Zhuwao after the two apologised yesterday for attacking the party and Government under #ZanuPFMustGo between 2018 and 2020.

Mr Patrick Zhuwao

The two former Cabinet Ministers are in self-imposed exile after falling out with the ruling party in 2017.

Zanu PF spokesperson Cde Chris Mutsvangwa told Zimpapers board chairperson Mr Tommy Sithole in an interview in Dubai yesterday, that the party was not interested in past differences as it was more focused on working with every Zimbabwean to prosper the country.

He said the return of the prodigal sons was a testimony of the unbreakable bond that was forged among members in more than 40 years of post-independence symbiotic interactions.

Cde Mutsvangwa said the party’s visionary leadership was forward-looking and was fixing past events to build a stronger future for the country as evidenced by the recent conferment of national hero status for second Chimurenga heroes James Chikerema and Ndabaningi Sithole. The two had been overlooked by the previous regime. The Second Republic under President Emmerson Mnangagwa is also at the forefront of finding a lasting mutual solution to The Gukurahundi Disturbances.

“It is in the same spirit that we welcome both Zhuwao and Professor Moyo to the party and we would want to see how we work together to bring prosperity to the Zimbabwean people. That is the goal. We don’t look at past differences we look at the opportunities of working together which can arise when all Zimbabwe come into the same fold,” said Cde Mutsvangwa.

He said there would be no backlash on the two former politburo members and encouraged other party cadres who left Zanu PF, Like Mr Saviour Kasukuwere to return.

“We are not bothered with the past, we’re much more preoccupied with the opportunities of the future. If they come back in an open-handed way like they have done and they are genuine we want them to be part of the big party which is Zanu PF, it embraces everybody.

“They are as good Zimbabweans as any, regardless of where we may have fallen out in the past. It’s inevitable in politics that you may have disagreements, you may have bitter disputes but the most important thing is how you come back together, how you end up working together, how you end up finding each other.

“In this instance, we are happy that both Jonathan Moyo and Patrick have come back, we have found each other again and there will be room for them in the party. We do hope that this will also be followed by others who may have a similar mind, they take the cue from the two of them so that they all come back into the fold of Zanu PF and the Zimbabwe revolution,” said Cde Mutsvangwa.

The party spokesperson said foreigners and outsiders often have a misguided view about perceived divisions within Zanu PF which they wrongly thought could be exploited.

“People overlook that the cadreship of the party, particularly at the highest level, has been working together for more than four decades through thick and thin, through war and peace. For people who are upstarts and arrivists to think that there are fundamental differences in Zanu PF which can be exploited by foreigners, they overlook this long bond of comradeship and friendship, especially among the leadership. It triumphed during the course of the congress that long bond and it laid the

ghost of those who felt that Zanu PF can be divided and ruled, it doesn’t work lie that in Zanu PF, we are party cadres of long-standing. We know each other and we are likely to find each other when the time is due.” He said.

He commended President Mnangagwa for doing: “a fantastic job uniting the cadreship within the party and the multiracial build-up of the Zimbabwe population.”