Acie Lumumba lambasted by Godwin Gomwe for insulting Mugabe

African News Agency (ANA)

Zanu PF’s prodigal son, Godwin Gomwe, on Friday took a swipe at former colleague in the youth league, Acie Lumumba, for publicly insulting President Robert Mugabe.

Gomwe, who returned to Zanu PF earlier this year, claimed the erstwhile ruling party activist and his newly formed Viva Zimbabwe political party were agents of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Zanu PF often accuse the CIA of plotting a regime change in Zimbabwe, where Mugabe has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980.

On Thursday, Lumumba, who was until recently an ally of Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao, the youth and indigenisation minister, insulted the nonagenarian at a hotel in the capital Harare, where he addressed supporters and journalists.

Responding to the taunt at a press conference in Harare, Gomwe said Zanu PF would in future make sure Lumumba did not address any gathering in Zimbabwe until he apologises to Mugabe for his tirade, which included expletives aimed at the 92-year-old.

“If he doesn’t apologise to the President, as Zimbabweans and vanguards of the party (Zanu PF), we will make sure that he and the party that he formed will not address [anyone] anywhere in the country,” declared Gomwe.

“We will not allow him to address any gathering here in Zimbabwe, particularly here in Harare where we stay, until he apologises to His Excellency.”

Gomwe said as the Zanu PF youth, they had the power to stop any gathering even in instances where a police clearance for such an event had been obtained.

“Lumumba’s utterances were not about freedom of speech, that is freedom of s**t. Freedom of expression is not what he exercised. If the police clear any of his gatherings, we will confront them (the police) and demand that they ban him. Because freedom of expression was brought about by President Mugabe, so he must not forget that,” he said.

Gomwe said they had seen Lumumba’s CIA project coming, adding that his followers were doomed and would regret the stunt they pulled on Thursday.

“We all know your intentions of misinforming the fellow Zimbabweans, manipulating, misleading a bundle of headless people. Your connections to evil agents will cease because we will not recognise your VIVA Zimbabwe in Harare and mostly in Zimbabwe as a nation.

The former Zanu PF youth leader said Lumumba should be prepared to face whatever consequences there were for his derogatory utterances about Mugabe without elaborating.

Gomwe, who was flanked by Golden Mevesera of the Children of War Veterans Association, Edwin Mashaire of the Zimbabwe Liberation War Collaborators Association (ZILIWACO Trust) and Collin Muchingami of the National Youth Service, said Lumumba should have taken the opportunity to address more pressing issues he wanted addressed by the President instead of hurling insults.

“If he is given freedom of expression, he must not insult; saying obscenities is taboo in our culture. There are a lot of issues which he should have addressed such as the downturn of the economy, unemployment and the cash crisis,” said Gomwe.

“These are issues he should have addressed amicably to the President and asking him to address those issues, not to say such a word he used.”

Gomwe said no one – not even Mugabe’s fieriest opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had ever used such insulting words towards the President. The MDC leader is the former prime minister of Zimbabwe.

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SOURCEAfrican News Agency (ANA)