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Sydney Kawadza
Mashonaland West Bureau Chief
Government will continue catering for the welfare of Zimbabwe’s founding father, former President Mr Robert Mugabe, and accord him the respect he deserves, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.
A year after Mr Mugabe resigned in the face of impeachment for reneging on his constitutional mandate by allowing a clique of power-hungry politicians to usurp his authority, and in the former leader’s home district of Zvimba, President Mnangagwa said his predecessor could not be written out of history.
President Mnangagwa was addressing thousands of people at a Thank You Rally at Murombedzi growth point.
The rally was organised to express appreciation for the overwhelming support Mashonaland West province gave to him and his Zanu-PF party in the July 2018 harmonised elections.
The President revealed that Mr Mugabe, who is 94-years-old, had been facing health challenges and had undergone treatment in Singapore over the past two months.
“We want to thank you, vaGushungo, Mambo Zvimba, you gave us your son. Ndimi makabereka mwana uyu. Ndiye akatifambisa muhondo tikasunungura nyika kudzamara tasvika gore rapfuura iri vakomberedzwa nezvimwe zvivanhu. Zvimhandu zvazvavakomberedza tikazvitakanyira kure.
“Tinotenda Mambo Zvimba, tirikuvachengeta, vava mutana wedu, vakura iko zvino vava nemwedzi miviri yadarika vari kuSingapore.”
He said Mr Mugabe was supposed to return to Zimbabwe on October 15, but Government received a message that he was not yet feeling well enough and extended his treatment.
Mr Mugabe, President Mnangagwa said, was now expected home on November 30.
“He is the founding father of the nation of Zimbabwe. He is our founding father of a free Zimbabwe. There could be others who would want to distort our history, but they should also know that Zimbabwe’s founding father is Gushungo,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said his predecessor was now out of the clutches of those who had captured him.
“We are moving on with the revolution because those who had captured the former president had little knowledge of the revolution,” he said.
“The birth of our Independence was a result of a struggle with a revolutionary purpose; to liberate ourselves, to grant ourselves an independence and destiny determined by our own people.”
The President said those who failed to follow the principles of the liberation struggle would fall by the wayside.
Mr Mugabe was among the first people to formally congratulate President Mnangagwa’s electoral victory after having earlier declared he would not vote for him.
Online Reporter