Chris Mutsvangwa Blames Chiwenga For Son's Arrest, Absolves Mnangagwa
ZANU PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa has intimated that Vice President Constantino Chiwenga was to blame for his son’s arrest last week.
Mutsvangwa’s son, Neville, was arrested on Wednesday and subsequently appeared in court on Friday, 10 May, facing one count of contravening section 5(1)(a)(ii) of the Exchange Control Act [Chapter 22:05] as read with section 4(1)(a)(1) of the Exchange Control Regulations SI 109 of 1996 “Dealing in foreign currency”, one count of contravening the Bank Use Promotion and Suppression of Money Laundering Act and another count of contravening the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act, and contravening the Postal and Telecommunication Act.
In an interview with The Standard, as cited by ZimLive, Mutsvangwa did not name Chiwenga but left enough clues about the target of his attack.
He questioned Chiwenga’s liberation war credentials while insisting on his 44-year-old son’s innocence.
Mutsvangwa claimed that his son’s arrest was the work of adversaries who were “trying to abuse the judiciary system, hoping that I can have an attitude against the state.”
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Last week, Mutsvangwa’s wife, the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Monica Mutsvangwa, claimed her son’s arrest was politically motivated.
Mutsvangwa also said he had “established beyond any doubt” that Mnangagwa had not instigated the arrest. He added:
… so it is somebody else who thinks that he is wearing the shoes of the head of state to manipulate the relationship between me and the president.
You know, the gate to power according to the Constitution is through an election, not through games and shenanigans and subterfuge… I don’t answer to ambitious individuals.
His mention of “ambitious individuals” has been interpreted as a reference to Chiwenga’s reported ambitions to lead ZANU PF and become the country’s next leader when Mnangagwa’s second and final term ends in 2028.
Mutsvangwa also claimed his relationship with Mnangagwa was close, saying he was one of Mnangagwa’s “pioneer recruits to his office of personal assistant” at the age of 22 in 1978. He said:
I was already working with the president. I think that proximity to him, my proximity to the president, they think through their post-independence proximity to the president they can influence him against me, or me against him.
It’s an impossibly long shot for the power ambitious ever to think they can drive a wedge into such a long, strong and revolutionary acquaintance between me and the president.
Persecuting my son as a carrot and stick to that nefarious enterprise will never yield the much-craved outcome.
However, according to self-exiled former cabinet minister Walter Mzembi, no political or high-profile arrest happens in Zimbabwe unless they are authorised by the President. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
No political or high-profile arrests in Zimbabwe happen unless authorised by the President. This is from Mugabe’s time to his successor. Get it from me, I speak with the authority of a victim and former Minister.
A Vice President unless Acting President cannot authorise the arrest of anyone, even as Acting unless he is of a sovereign & strong mind will consult the President on the phone.
The President will also never admit that he plays this nefarious role, in public, to his direct or indirect victims nor to enquiring relatives or the public. The standard answer has always been ” Handisini, handizvizivi”.
Of course, it’s never him. That is the correct and standardized constitutional answer. Does any sane mind expect him to?
Neville’s arrest came after the Government vowed to eradicate the illegal trade in currencies as it tries to shore up its new currency, the ZiG.
Mutsvangwa and his co-accused Ellis Majachani and Simbarashe Tichingana appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi on Friday, 10 May. Their bail hearing was pushed to Monday, 13 May.
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