Robert Mugabe ‘now following in the footsteps of sell outs’ – Zanu-PF official

Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF lawmaker has reportedly warned former president Robert Mugabe, 94, that he risks losing his right to be buried at the National Heroes’ Acre if he “continues dabbling in opposition politics”.

Mugabe was reportedly backing a newly formed political outfit led by Ambrose Mutinhiri, a former brigadier, who quit the ruling Zanu-PF party recently and formed the New Patriotic Front (NPF) party.


Mutinhiri resigned from parliament, citing the military intervention that pressured Mugabe into stepping down in November as his reason for cutting ties with Zanu-PF.

The development was said to have unsettled Zanu-PF, which accused the veteran politician of trying to destabilise the ruling party, and warned he could face the loss of his farms and even his pension benefits.

According to NewsDay, a Buhera south legislator and war veteran, Joseph Chinotimba, told Zanu-PF supporters in his constituency that the nonagenarian was now following in the footsteps of “sell-outs” such as Zanu founding leader Ndabaningi Sithole.

Chinotimba said that the widely respected politician must be made to taste his own medicine if he continued to support the NPF.

“If Mugabe and Mutinhiri have sold out, then they are not fit to go to the national shrine. There are lots of people he (Mugabe) denied the honour because he was in charge and was calling the shots. Sithole was denied the honour because he sold out during the war. Mugabe has sold out, he will not be buried there,” Chinotimba was quoted as saying.

Zanu-PF spokesperson, Simon Khaya Moyo, however, said the party would not comment on Chinotimba’s comments as the nonagenarian was still alive.