‘I never took sides’, says Mandi Chimene as she longs to come back home
Self-exiled former Manicaland Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Mandiitawepi (Mandi) Chimene says she never took sides during the height of factionalism in Zanu-PF before the overthrow of the late former President Robert Mugabe through a military coup in November 2017.
Chimene in a video interview with the State Media in Mozambique on Thursday said she was ready to come back home.
During the peak of divisions in the ruling party, Chimene was known for attacking then Vice President Mnangagwa on behalf of the G-40 faction fronted by Mugabe’s wife Grace.
Together with several other former top Zanu-PF officials like Saviour Kasukuwere, Jonathan Moyo, Patrick Zhuwao and Walter Mzembi, they were opposed to Mnangagwa’s succession plan.
The two former rivals, Chimene and Mnangagwa met in Mozambique on Thursday through the facilitation of the neighbouring country’s leader Filipe Nyusi. She said the Zimbabwean President told her to “come back home”.
In an attempt to cover up for her past attacks on Mnangagwa, Chimene unbelievably claimed that she never took sides during Mugabe and Mnangagwa’s succession disputes.
“He said come back home and I said I am coming.
“I was never on any of the sides; both factions were uncertain about my affiliations,” Chimene said.
Political commentator Brighton Mutebuka, however, believes that Chimene was not genuine in her statement adding that her facial expression showed she was still afraid.
He said Chimene’s political experience is a lesson.
“Life is pregnant with such lessons! This is the aftermath of power shifting decisively. Here is Chimene, the former Manicaland Min of State for Provincial Affairs under the late Pres Robert Mugabe.
“She fled soon after the coup because she was terrified of being physically harmed. Here she is just being diplomatic.
“She laughs nervously and politely and bats away uncomfortable questions. You can tell that she knows the danger is still there.
“She says she is still helping with farming! 6 Years later? She is obviously longing for home. She has sent a signal to ED via Mozambican President, Nyusi.
“The waters have been tested via this meeting. Her answer shows she is not sure as ED perhaps showed her a poker face & was inscrutable.
“They would have spoken about the weather and exchanged a few meaningless pleasantries. It’s obviously a lie that she was neutral at the height of the succession battles,” he said.
Mutebuka dismissed Chimene’s assertion that she never took sides. He said the former ruling party heavyweight was against Mnangagwa’s faction which was called the “Lacoste”.
“She was decisively anti-Lacoste and made some very unwise public utterances that are very difficult to recoil from, the same as some triumphant Lacoste characters are currently lording over others in Vene’s Kingdom!
“Mankind never learns. It always ends this way. In her world which is now a lifetime away, it was inconceivable that her life would end up upended this way,” he said.
Political activist Peter Mutasa said Chimene’s experience should teach Zanu-PF people to behave well when they are in power because tables can change at any time.
“Life is humbling. To imagine that this woman ( Mandi Chimene ) used to be feared in Manicaland and boisterous.
“We always tell everyone in Zanu-PF that things can change and they must treat all people as humans whilst in power. God is for us all,” Mutasa said.
It is believed that for Mugabe to resign during the coup, he gave soldiers a condition to make sure his family and loyalists, most of them in self exile, were safe.
Kasukuwere tried to come back to challenge Mnangagwa in the recently held presidential election but he was stopped by the courts which held that the former Zanu-PF political commissar was not in the country for more than 18 months.
Jonathan Moyo and Patrick Zhuwao have since apologised to Zanu-PF for supporting Mnangagwa’s rival during the 2018 harmonised general elections. They are yet to declare their intention to come back.
