GOVERNMENT has vowed not to give in to international
pressure to fire Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga or neutralise his grip on
the country’s security ministries amid speculative reports that he ordered the
fatal shooting of seven MDC Alliance protestors in Harare on August 1.
Addressing journalists in Harare early this week, Foreign
Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo said President Emmerson Mnangagwa would not be
forced to fire his deputy over an opinion expressed by the influential British
parliamentarian, Kate Hoey.
“In fact, what has happened is that instructions from
outside basically like what Kate Hoey said do not drive this government and it
will not necessarily represent the correct position of what Zimbabwe is. We are
capable of correcting our own problems, developing our own solutions and then
moving forward and finding each other,” he said.
Moyo was responding to a tweet by the UK parliamentarian
who blamed Chiwenga for the fatal shooting which occurred as opposition
activists protested over delays in announcing presidential election results two
weeks ago.
“There should be no change to EU or UK or American
government policies to Zimbabwe government until at the very minimum Chiwenga
is removed from his Vice-Presidency and his control of the military,” Hoey
tweeted.
Moyo said the opinions expressed by Hoey were not
reflective of what was happening in Zimbabwe.
“Kate Hoey is a Member of Parliament and she has got the
freedom and liberty to express her own opinions as regards to issues, but that
does not necessarily mean that is the official position of Britain per se or
the people of the UK.”
“We believe that the UK is a key strategic partner which
requires that both of us should iron out issues and the President has invited
Hoey, she has been here and she saw a lot of activities. Let me assure you that
whatever perception she reflected in her talk does not necessarily represent
what is happening in this country,” he said.
Highly-placed diplomatic sources said they had received
briefings from government insiders that Chiwenga was behind the deployment of
soldiers that quashed a protest by opposition party supporters that had turned
violent.
“There is an increasing sense that Chiwenga is the problem
in the current government, having been a solider the better part of his life.
He is using the army to meddle in civilian affairs, he might even been holding
President Mnangagwa hostage,” a diplomatic source said. Newsday
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