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WE welcome Vice President Constantino Chiwenga back home from China where he had gone to receive treatment for the past four months and wish him good health as he rejoins President Mnangagwa to steer Zimbabwe towards Vision 2030. We are heartened by his extraordinary and remarkable recovery from an ailment which almost took his life and hope that his return will embolden the Presidency and lighten the load on the Head of State who has been without one of his deputies for so long.
True to form, VP Chiwenga did not waste time on his return and immediately reminded Zimbabweans of the need to work hard and turn this country around. Without mincing words, the VP said he had already resumed his duties.
“It is now incumbent upon us to work to achieve the vision our President has set for 2030. Let us work with him tirelessly to ensure everything is achieved.”
VP Chiwenga touched down at Harare International Airport in the early hours of Saturday after spending a total of 123 days undergoing treatment at a Chinese facility in Beijing.
The timely intervention by President Mnangagwa to engage his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping to facilitate the airlifting of VP Chiwenga to Beijing for specialist care and treatment prevented his “imminent death” and saved his life.
In July, the President made the decision when VP Chiwenga was battling for life in the intensive care unit of a South African hospital. At the time, the VP suffered memory lapses, speech impairment and excruciating pain. However, in what has been an extraordinary recovery story, VP Chiwenga looked fit and agile when he received President Mnangagwa and First Lady Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa at his home on Saturday. The duo shared a hearty embrace before an hour-and-half private engagement. Emerging from the meeting, a visibly elated President Mnangagwa explained the VP’s path to recovery.
“When he left he was unwell, which was giving us sleepless nights because our comrade was unwell,” said the President.
“So we arranged for him to go to South Africa and while he was there, we spoke to our Chinese friends, we spoke to President Xi Jinping, who is our dear friend, who offered to assist with his treatment.
“We saw it fit for the VP to go to China. We flew him there and he stayed there for a number of months. Now you can see for yourselves that he has regained his fitness and he is clear-minded.
“When he initially left he was having memory lapses, and he was in so much pain that everyone could tell the agony he was in.”
VP Chiwenga, he said, is now “raring to go”.
“I am confident that now the whole of Zimbabwe knows that the Vice President is back and fit, and he is very clear and raring to go. That is why I said God is there because my colleague is back and we can now put our heads together to uplift the country.”
The President also revealed that the VP’s ill-health had “affected him personally”, adding that his return had brought him immense relief.
He said he also sent a special message of thanks to President Xi Jinping for facilitating VP Chiwenga’s treatment.
“I am also very grateful to my brother, the President of the People’s Republic of China whom I talked to and he said he will do his best and instruct his system to do their best to look after your Vice President, and that has been done.
“And I have sent a letter to President Xi Jinping thanking him for the role he played in looking after my VP. Besides that, I have also asked General Chiwenga about the care in the hospital and he says, ‘Mukoma, ndakabatwa zvakanaka, I can’t think of anything else or wish for anything else . . .’”
VP Chiwenga thanked the President for his judicious decision to send him to China for treatment.
“And I want to thank personally my President, His Excellency President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, if he had not intervened the time I was in the intensive care in South Africa, I could have been history by now, and when he communicated with his counterpart President Xi Jinping, I was then taken to China . . . he did not act as the President but acted as my brother to make sure that I survive. . .
“And I would also want, before I go far, to thank the people of Zimbabwe for their prayers; those prayers from across the country helped my recovery.”
We are glad that VP Chiwenga has recovered and is fit enough to resume his duties. His contribution to the attainment of the goals of President Mnangagwa’s Government will be invaluable. Besides being instrumental in executing Operation Restore Legacy which ushered in the New Dispensation, he has been a vital cog in Government and has been pivotal in implementing the President’s vision.
Online Reporter