ZANU-PF’s Chinamasa angers the Mwanawasa family
By Ernest Chanda
PATRICK Mwanawasa has asked the government to investigate claims by Zimbabwe’s ruling party senior official Patrick Chinamasa about the cause of death for his father Levy Mwanawasa.
In his writeup titled: Those with eyes, let them ‘eye’, Chinamasa claimed that Mwanawasa, as SADC chair, became hostile and was working with then British prime minister Tony Blair and others in the region to push for regime change in Zimbabwe.
“For those who don’t know the late Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa, let me fill you in about him. During his tenure of office as Zambian President, he became the darling of Western countries and, cheered on by these sanctions-imposing countries, became very hostile towards Zimbabwe and ZANUPF. He went further than mere rhetoric and, working in cahoots with Tony Blair, had agreed to a Tony Blair proposal to use Zambia as a base for British Military Forces to launch a military offensive against Zimbabwe with a view to reversing the land redistribution programme and effecting regime change,” wrote Chinamasa. “Zimbabwe picked up the intelligence about the hostile intentions of Blair and Mwanawasa. As SADC Chairman in 2008, Mwanawasa convened an Emergency SADC Summit on Zimbabwe in Lusaka with the intent to rally other SADC leaders to the view that a military intervention in Zimbabwe to remove ZANUPF from power was inevitable. Mwanawasa invited Tsvangirai to the Summit. As Zimbabwe, we objected to the attendance of an opposition leader at a Summit of Heads of State. Our objection fell on deaf ears. President Mugabe decided to boycott the Summit and instead dispatched a four Minister delegation to the SADC Lusaka Heads of States Summit to engage Mwanawasa and dissuade him from the path to plunge Zimbabwe and the region into an Armageddon. I led the delegation to the Lusaka Summit. To beef up and bolster the strength of the delegation, President Mugabe sent President ED Mnangagwa (then Speaker of the National Assembly) to join the delegation… The Lusaka Emergency SADC summit was inconclusive, and Mwanawasa made it known that he was taking the matter to the AU Summit to be held at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. Mwanawasa suffered a stroke, and that put an end to the regime change agenda as a SADC-initiated project at the behest of Tony Blair.”
Reacting to this, Patrick challenged Chinamasa to explain if the Zimbabwean government was involved in his father’s death.
“We congratulate the people of Zimbabwe for conducting peaceful elections in the recently held harmonised poll. It is however shocking that during the euphoria surrounding the presumed winners ZANU-PF, a senior party official recklessly issued remarks admitting that the Zimbabwean government had a hand to play in the death of the late 3rd Republican President Dr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa,” Patrick said. “In his sickening and disgraceful tirade aimed at our Republican President Mr Hakainde Hichilema and the former vice-president Dr Nevers Mumba, Mr Patrick Chinamasa, the ZANU-PF treasurer, gave a chilling account of events leading up to the death of Dr Mwanawasa in Sharm El Sheikh Egypt. It is our desire to know as to whether the Zimbabwean government through Mr Chinamasa is admitting guilt in the demise of the late Zambian head of state.”
Patrick wondered why Chinamasa would seek to destroy cordial relations that have existed between the two countries for decades.
“As Neighbouring countries we have enjoyed cordial relations over the years. It is however disheartening that the ilk of Mr Chinamasa, a seasoned politician, can be rather cavalier when commenting on issues of statecraft. His claims have seditious connotations and it is rather shameful that the Zimbabwean government have failed to distance themselves from this appalling and despicable statement. This is a new low for Mr Chinamasa’s integrity. We wish him well in the twilight of his career and hope that he can genuflect on his conduct as he approaches the gates to the dustbin of political history,” said Patrick. “To this end, I implore the Zambian government and SADC to investigate these allegations by Mr Chinamasa, a senior ZANU-PF official. Moreover, I sincerely hope that our government will not take these threats on our President Mr Hakainde Hichilema lightly. Mr Chinamasa made these unwarranted remarks in his capacity as a senior ZANU-PF official. We seek clarity over this matter and we demand in the strongest terms that he be held to account for his insinuations.”- The Mast