President did not appoint me to get votes: Uebert Angel on appointment

Ambassador Uebert Angel has said President Emmerson Mnangagwa would have made a bad choice if he appointed him Ambassador at Large and Presidential Envoy with the intention to mobilise votes ahead of the 2023 elections.

In an interview with Lance Guma on Nehanda TV on Monday, Angel said his Spirit Embassy: GoodNews Church abroad, was made up of different nationals and less Zimbabweans hence his constituency did not have the capacity to mobilise votes for the Zanu PF leader.

Angel was appointed Zimbabwe’s Ambassador at Large and Presidential Envoy by Mnangagwa in March 2021 with his role expected to come with the responsibility of seeking trade and investment opportunities for the country.

“The reality is, I’m not the pastor or the Bishop or a clergyman with the largest number of people in Zimbabwe. If the President wanted to choose a prophet based on what you’re saying right now, he would have chosen another guy that is locally strong when it comes to votes,” Angel said.

“My congregants are around the world. We call ourselves a coat of many colors. If you go for example, to London we have a church of 2500 people right and Sunday attendance is between 1200 and 1300. Out of that, we have 37 Zimbabweans. That will be a bad choice if he is looking for votes. And that man is not making bad choices though.”

Angel said his appointment did not signify him joining politics. He added that his office since its inception nine months ago had “brought a lot of investments”.

“I think politics is below my pay grade. I’m not interested. I’m interested in what my President has managed to do to really get everybody from all ecosystems and say ‘I wanna try and see what they can do for this country’. We have brought a lot of investments,” he said. Nehanda Radio