PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa arrived in Tanzania last week
intent on projecting Zimbabwe as a country that has moved on from the shadow of
former president Robert Mugabe, the man he deposed in a military coup last
November.
Mnangagwa, who has visited Namibia, South Africa, Zambia,
Mozambique, Angola, Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the six
months that he has been president, hoped to use his latest trip to reach out to
a key traditional ally as he seeks to build international acceptance for his
government.
The Zanu PF leader, who broke off his campaign ahead of
elections on July 30 to accept the invitation for a two-day state visit to
Tanzania, spent most of his time discussing trade, tourism and historic links
between the two countries.
His hosts, however, would drag him out to discuss the one
subject he prefers not to talk about: Robert Mugabe.
At a press conference in the commercial capital Dar es
Salaam, his host President John Magufuli waxed lyrical about Mugabe — currently
in Singapore receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment.
Mugabe, said Mnangagwa’s host, was in the league of African
luminaries like Patrice Lumumba, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Nelson Mandela
and Samora Machel.
And at a dinner hosted for Mnangagwa and his delegation,
Magufuli would return to the subject, saying Mugabe’s contribution to Zimbabwe
and Africa “can never be understated”.
Magufuli revealed that former Tanzanian president Hassan
Mwinyi, during a meeting with Mnangagwa, had pressed the Zimbabwean leader
about Mugabe’s welfare amid persistent claims by his supporters that he was
being mistreated by the new administration.
Mugabe himself said during a media briefing with
journalists in March that his staff were routinely harassed by the military,
and most of his security had been withdrawn.
At the Zanu PF headquarters in Harare, Mugabe’s framed
pictures have been pulled down and replaced with those of Mnangagwa.
In the room, as Magufuli spoke, his official portrait was
flanked by that of founding president Nyerere – which is the sight in all
public buildings.
When Mnangagwa stood to speak, he thanked Magufuli for the invitation,
recalling his days in Tanzania during the 1970s when he was among the
liberation fighters hosted by the Tanzanian government.
“We used to have meetings with Mwalimu Julius Nyerere in
this very building (State House), there were very good lessons in the past
which we must carry on,” he stated.
“Tanzania was a midwife of liberation struggles in Southern
Africa and it is our obligation to pass this information to the young
generation.”
He then turned to the subject his hosts had flagged enough
times he could no longer avoid it.
Mugabe, said Mnangagwa, was an icon with whom he had worked
for 55 years.
“In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe will continue to be the Father
of the Nation and an icon of the country,” he said.
He revealed that Mugabe was receiving treatment in
Singapore, adding that once he was better, he would be sending a plane to pick
him up and bring him home.
Mnangagwa returned home on Friday, but left for Mauritania
yesterday where he will attend an African Union summit. Standard
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