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 Veteran politician, Edgar Tekere By Our Correspondent HARARE, March 9, 2007 - Former Zanu-PF secretary-general, Edgar Tekere, has reiterated that the ruling party is his brainchild, hitting out at President Robert Mugabe for attempting to discredit him and tilt the history of the liberation struggle in his own favour. Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday, Tekere narrated the agony that he said he has gone through since he publicly stated the role that he says he played in elevating Mugabe to the ruling party's presidency, saying that the president should simply admit that he was a "Johnny-come-lately" in Zanu-PF. He said that after the disclosure during the launch of his recently published book that he had played a crucial role in Mugabe's ascendancy to power, the ruling party president and his lieutenants had made him a subject of ridicule, all in an apparent effort to distort the true history of the country's liberation. Tekere, whose book, A lifetime of Struggle was published in Harare in January has been at the receiving end of verbal abuse by members of the ruling party who have claimed that he was attempting to distort the history of the liberation war to promote himself. The Tinaye Chigudu-led Manicaland Zanu-PF provincial executive recently expelled the controversial politician from the party after finding Tekere guilty of allegedly denigrating Mugabe in the book. Tekere, however, said his dismissal was the action of people anxious to win Mugabe's favour by becoming angry on his behalf. "There has been a lot of furore over my remarks at the launch of this book," he said. "I have been a subject of ridicule from some members of the party who have taken it upon themselves to be angry on Mugabe's behalf. I wonder why some people behave like that." He added that the ruling party members had fallen over each other to demonize him yet they were not aware of the content of the book, neither were they present when the events he was narrating in the book occurred. "There are people who have not read this book who are busy trying to rubbish a book they have not read. They do not know the contents of the book yet they are the ones in the forefront of saying that I was distorting history. Most of them were not even there during the war of liberation," he said. He was referring to the likes of the former Mayor of Gweru, Patrick Kombayi, the Zanu-PF secretary for youth, Absalom Sikhosana, the ruling party's women's league leadership who have all said that his book, published by academic and publisher, Dr Ibbo Mandaza, was not a true representation of the history of the liberation war. Tekere said it was not necessary to remind the President that he was the founding father of the liberation movement as he was fully aware of the role the maverick politician played in Mugabe's rise to the throne of the party. "VaMugabe, do you need me to remind you that I am the one who formed this party that you call yours today at Munhumutapa Hall in Gweru?" asked Tekere. "Do you need me to remind you that I am the one who authored the document that eventually saw the exit of Ndabaningi Sithole as the leader of the party? "Do you also need me to remind you that I am the one, in my capacity as the deputy secretary-general of the party, who wrote the letter that proclaimed you as the new leader of the party after Sithole, a letter that was sent to the Frontline Heads of State?" Tekere said that given his influence in the party, he managed to convince the leadership of the Frontline Heads of State that Mugabe was the new party leader although the leaders appeared unsettled and unhappy over the new Zanu leader. "I told them that Sithole was no longer there and the person they needed to work with was Mugabe. I had a torrid time trying to convince them but because I was influential, they ended up accepting him as the leader of the party." Tekere also reminded Mugabe that he was also responsible for authoring the letter that was turned down by the Smith regime where they sought a reprieve order that would allow Mugabe to travel to Ghana to mourn his son, wjo died in that country. Tekere also hit out at the corruption that has taken root in the country, saying that the scourge had manifested itself in Zimbabwe as early as 1981 but Mugabe was reluctant to act on it then. "I saw this corruption that is ripping through the economy as back as 1981," Tekere said. "We advised Mugabe but he was reluctant to act on it due to reasons best known to himself. Look at what that scourge has done to the economy now. It's uncontrollable," Send your comments to: letters@thezimbabwetimes.com |
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