PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa says he is in “low spirits” as he buried two national heroes while mourning key ally, Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo, all in the absence of his two Vice-Presidents who are reportedly down with unspecified illnesses.
Vice-President and Health minister Constantino Chiwenga and
his colleague Kembo Mohadi were yesterday conspicuous by their absence at the
burial of Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Ellen Gwaradzimba, who
succumbed to COVID-19, and struggle icon Morton Malianga, raising speculation
that the two VPs could also have been hit by the virus that has crippled
government work.
Chiwenga was the acting President after taking over from
Mohadi in the absence of Mnangagwa, who was on leave, and was supposed to preside
over the burial.
But Mnangagwa was forced to cut short his leave to preside
over the burial after the death of SB Moyo, and a suspected COVID-19 attack on
Chiwenga.
Moyo, who died on Wednesday morning at a private hospital
in Harare from COVID-19 complications, was yesterday declared a national hero.
The late Foreign Affairs minister, a retired Lieutenant
General, is famed for fronting the coup that toppled the late strongman Robert
Mugabe in November 2017.
Presidential spokesperson George Charamba took to microblogging site Twitter yesterday to say this period had been the most devastating in his career in government and that it was the first to see his boss “low”.
“His Excellency the President, who has been unofficially
working from State House, has had to re-assume his official place and role as
the sitting Head of State in the wake of repeated tragedies that the pandemic
continues to deliver to our nation,” Charamba said.
“Never have I seen the President low. Never, too, have I
had to issue out so many sad messages in the nearly four decades I have been in
government. It’s just depressing, which is why we all have to mask up, stay at
home, maintain social distancing, get tested and isolate.”
Mnangagwa has lost three of his ministers to COVID-19,
starting with Perrance Shiri (Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement)
in July last year, Gwaradzimba last week and Moyo on Wednesday.
It was not immediately established why Chiwenga skipped the burial when he was supposed to be the acting President.
Health and Child Care deputy minister John Mangwiro, who is
also Chiwenga’s personal doctor, could not immediately comment on reports that
his boss was battling COVID-19, saying he was in a meeting and also not in a
position to comment on the matter.
“I am in a meeting. I cannot comment on that. Why can’t you
check with his office?” Mangwiro said before hanging up. Charamba was not
picking calls.
There are fears that a number of senior government
officials and Cabinet ministers are under the weather due to COVID-19, but
government has remained tight-lipped on that.
In his address at the National Heroes’ Acre, Mnangagwa
described the burials as “heart-breaking”.Mnangagwa also described the COVID-19
pandemic as “evil”, but one which has to be conquered.
“Equally, with the current deadly war against this evil
COVID-19 pandemic facing our nation, we will win as a united people,” he said.
“The present COVID-19 variant is stronger and spreads much
faster, hence we must be more vigilant, disciplined and shift our attitude and
behaviour.” Yesterday’s burial was a low-key event with only a selected few
attending.
In a statement on Wednesday, government said there was
space for Mnangagwa, the two Vice-Presidents and a few other government
officials plus the two families to conform to the World Health Organisations
protocols. Newsday
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