Mutsvangwa lays into Chiwenga for attacking zvigananda, jumps to Tagwirei’s defence
ZANU PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa has laid into Vice President Constantino Chiwenga for attacking Zimbabwe’s super-rich community and accused him of trying to use that as leverage to get into the presidency.
Chiwenga’s use of the word zvigananda, referring to a close-knit group of controversial businessmen and Zanu PF tenderpreneurs milking public resources, seems to have irked Mutsvangwa.
Speaking at a press conference at Zanu PF headquarters on Thursday, Mutsvangwa chronicled the name’s origin and defended what Karl Marx described as the primitive accumulation of wealth, the source of capitalism.
“The name Zvigananda generally refers to what is called the petty-bourgeoisie. In Marxist Class analysis people are placed in classes and there is a class struggle between one class and the other; the workers, the peasants, the middle class and the super rich.
“The petty-bourgeoisie was translated to Zvigananda. Now, because people were ambitious for power in the 1976 Vashandi Rebellion, they started labelling someone as a Chigananda in the war.
“But being labelled in a class is in relation to ownership of property and no one owned property in the war.
“Behind it was an attempt to grab power. If you start labelling other people then out of that you say this should happen to them, it is not right,” said Mutsvangwa.
Chiwenga, who indeed is eyeing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office, first used the word at a rally last year in reference to businessmen such as Wicknell Chivayo, Kudakwashe Tagwirei, Pedzisayi ‘Scott’Sakupwanya and Paul Tungwarara.
These have been accused of taking advantage of their proximity to power to capture state institutions, determining where to and how state funds flow.
They are believed to be the unit behind Mnangagwa’s Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 (CAB3) with hopes of shutting out Chiwenga and installing Tagwirei as successor instead.
Added Mutsvangwa: “There is nothing wrong about acquiring property, about having a middle class.
“You abuse that term now and want to use it for political purposes because you have ambitions…that is not the way to go.
“If a black man makes money, there is a problem, but Indians and white people can make as much as they want?
“Zimbabweans deserve better in terms of political leadership, especially leadership that went to war. We need to conduct ourselves in the correct manner.”
CAB3 looks set to be passed, with very little being let out on how Chiwenga is likely to respond to the big power move.
_NewZimbabwe_
