Hypocritical For Prof Moyo To Accuse Mnangagwa of “ambulance-chasing” When He Used Zanele's Death for Sympathy Mining: Sunday Mail Columnist

The columnist who writes for the state-owned weekly newspaper, the Sunday Mail columnist under the pseudonym Bishop Lazarus has berated exiled former cabinet minister Professor Jonathan Moyo for accusing President Emmerson Mnangagwa of “ambulance chasing propaganda” after his visit to Morgan Tsvangirai. After the visit, Moyo tweeted:

This is no PR coup and no history. It’s ambulance-chasing propaganda for the optics of exploiting the poor health of a terminally ill political rival. The propaganda is cynical, crude, desperate and un-African. It intrudes into and violates a constitutionally protected right to privacy

Bishop Lazarus claimed that Moyo was not the right person to speak on this topic as he had exploited the death of his daughter Zanele in order to garner sympathy. He also accused Moyo of abandoning his wife and family when things turned south during Operation Restore Legacy.

Wrote Bishop Lazarus:

Where do we start? Prof Moyo is accusing President Mnangagwa of turning to what he calls “ambulance-chasing propaganda” and went on to allege that the President was exploiting the “poor health of a terminally ill political rival”.

Well, let’s take this clever professor to 2015 after the tragic death of his daughter Zanele. Let me make myself clear here – this sermon is by no means meant to show disrespect to Zanele or the mother. Zanele was a wonderful kid and may her soul rest in peace! But we need to remind the father of something that he thinks we have forgotten.

When Zanele passed on, Prof Moyo turned to what I call “coffin-chasing propaganda”, using the death of her daughter for sympathy mining. Yes, the father was moaning and clearly, he was crushed, but he went on to plant stories and cook up theories that left many people wondering whether this was a father vari kuchema mwana wavo?

Maybe this was just a grieving father, but he put up a show that left those watching from a distance wondering whether he was not using the death of his daughter to gain political capital and sympathy. That’s “coffin-chasing propaganda”. Exploiting the death of a dear daughter. This Bishop doesn’t have a short memory.

And how did the cooked-up theories and the planted stories die – it later turned out that an overdose of drugs had taken the life out of the Professor’s daughter. I could say more, but I want sweet Zanele to sleep in peace.

Prof Moyo also wants to preach to us about being “unAfrican”. Kikikiki! Imi professor kwanai mhani. Akukwane wena mdala Jontso!

Prof Moyo is not qualified to preach to us about being “unAfrican”. There is no African man who abandons his wife and kids when in trouble. African men stand for and with their wives and kids in times of trouble. But what did the professor do during Operation Restore Legacy? He dumped his wife, a foreigner for that matter, and his kids at former President Mugabe’s house. Leaving even a mentally challenged son in the care of a 93-year-old man? Hakuna baba vakadaro muAfrica.

 

Supporters of President Emmerson Mnangagwa have used Zanele’s death to attack Moyo on a number of occasions. In September during the Zanu-PF succession fights, Gokwe-Nembudziya MP Mayor Justice Wadyajena and Jones Musara made accusations on Twitter suggesting that Moyo may have killed his daughter for ritual purposes, in order to gain power. The accusation was repeated in October after Moyo had suggested that Mnangagwa’s vomiting and diarrhoea (from alleged poisoning) could have been induced by “chronic use of antibiotics or ARVs (Anto-Retro Viral).”

More: Sunday Mail