G40 kingpin accuses Britain of aiding Zanu-PF

Published: 30 June 2018

Sulking nephew of former president Robert Mugabe, Patrick Zhuwao - who was among alleged kingpins of the vanquished Generation 40 (G40) faction - has accused the British government of aiding Zanu-PF in an alleged plot to unleash violence ahead of next month's harmonised national elections.

Zhuwao did not back his allegations, which come hardly a week after President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his two deputies - were subjects of an assassination attempt at a Zanu-PF campaign rally at White City Stadium in Bulawayo last Saturday.

In a letter to British Prime Minister Theresa May, which he reproduced on his weekly blog, Zhuwao alleged that Mnangagwa and Zanu-PF were being aided by Zimbabwe's former colonial master to retain power at the expense of the opposition MDC Alliance's Nelson Chamisa.

"The British government, and I dare say various British institutions, are colluding with Mnangagwa in his despicable subterfuge that has the hallmark of the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres that saw the loss of thousands of lives.

"My letter to you places these matters on the record so that history will judge your actions and those of your government in the full knowledge that you were complicit in the blood bath that Mnangagwa is plotting to unleash," said Zhuwao.

The former Labour and Public Service minister claimed May's government had sanitised the November military intervention which ended with his uncle resigning from office.

"Your government, with the support of institutions such as the BBC, has sought to sanitise that coup by presenting it as a transition and by pressuring governments in the region and on the continent to similarly condone the coup.

"Your despicable liaison with … Mnangagwa will not stem the tide of Zimbabwe's Second Republic set to be ushered in by the assured election of Nelson Chamisa on 30 July 2018," Zhuwao charged.

Zhuwao has been viciously and publicly attacking Mnangagwa and his administration ever since the fall of Mugabe whose 37-year iron-fisted rule was ended in stunning fashion by the military last November.

Mugabe resigned on November 21 last year moments after Parliament had started proceedings to impeach him.

This followed a military intervention that was code-named Operation Restore Legacy, which saw the nonagenarian and his wife, Grace, being placed under house arrest.

Several Cabinet ministers linked to the G40 faction, which had coalesced around Grace, were targeted in the military operation.

The annihilated G40 was, before the military intervention, locked in a bitter war with Mnangagwa and his supporters for the control of both Zanu-PF and the country.
- dailynews

Tags: G40,