The director of the Harare-based Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI), Pedzisai Ruhanya, has said that both the late founding leader of the country, Robert Mugabe and the incumbent President, Emmerson Mnangagwa rose to power through military coups.
Ruhanya said that the family of the former president should, therefore, stop acting as if Mugabe was sacred. Posting on Twitter, Ruhanya said:
Mugabe rose to power after the Mgagao declaration of October 1975 before the 1977 Chimoio Congress. Mnangagwa rose to power after the Nov 2017 military coup then the ZANU PF Congress of Dec 2017. Both leaders are products of military factor. But Mugabe family thinks Bob is holy!
His remarks come at a time when the tensions between the Mnangagwa led administration and Mugabe’s family seem to be unending.
Tensions grew when the former first family allegedly tried in vain to assassinate the then vice president, Mnangagwa, through accidents, cyanide and ice-cream poison.
The military-assisted transition of November 2017 which resulted in Mugabe’s demise did less to save the situation.
Some members of the Mugabe family blame Mnangagwa for the death of the former veteran leader saying that the coup worsened his health condition.
The tension has resulted in the family rejecting the government’s offer to burry Mugabe at the National Heroes Acre.
Mugabe who died on the 6th of September in Singapore where he was receiving medical attention is expected to be buried on Saturday 28 September in Zvimba, his rural home.
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