Jonathan Moyo: Mugabe Never Trusted My Political Instinct, & His Widow Is Not Presidential Material

Exiled former ZANU PF Politburo member and cabinet Minister Jonathan Moyo says the late former President Robert Mugabe never trusted his political instinct and kept him out of his inner political circle.

In a Twitter interview with Open Parly on Thursday, Moyo also said he was not in a position to stop the November 2017 military coup that ousted Mugabe from power. He said:

My working relationship with President Mugabe was mixed. He never trusted my political instinct but he trusted my professional abilities. To him, I was an outsider and not part of his inner circle. He liked my Tsholotsho family roots which relate to his father and half-siblings!

I was not in a position to stop the military coup beyond alerting President Mugabe, who was the Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces, that a coup was brewing up. Even that alert was not much because I was not a security minister and I had never been part of the JOC circle!

Moyo said he did not consider Mugabe’s wife, Grace, presidential material and he backed former Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi to succeed Mugabe. Said Moyo:

I was not in a position to prepare Amai Mugabe to take over from her husband. The chilling thought of getting involved in President Mugabe’s family matters never crossed my fearful mind. And I never saw her as presidential material. My public choice was Sydney Sekeramayi!

The former Higher Education Minister said the then defence forces commander Constantino Chiwenga was behind the November 2017 military and President Emmerson Mnangagwa was not the architect but a mere beneficiary. Said Moyo:

It’s a no brainer that the November 2017 military coup was masterminded by Chiwenga with the support of “the command element”. Mnangagwa was a key beneficiary, not the architect, of the coup because the commanders, who now regret it, needed a political face to front the coup!

Moyo enjoined Zimbabweans across the political divide to lay aside political differences and join hands to boot ZANU PF out of office. Removing ZANU PF and keeping the military out of politics is invaluable to the country’s prosperity, Moyo said.

My message to the people of Zimbabwe is that no matter your political affiliation, Zanu PF must go in the national interest to save lives and protect livelihoods. The military must get out of politics. That’s the only way out of the political quagmire in the country!