ZANU PF politburo member and former War Veterans Minister, Tshinga Dube has all but exonerated President Emmerson Mnangagwa from any blame in the August 1, 2018 killing and maiming of civilians by the army.
Addressing the media on Monday, the former Makokoba legislator attributed the killings to what he described as careless people within government and the security forces.
He said the unnamed individuals were unnecessarily standing in the way of Mnangagwa’s efforts to restore the country back to economic prosperity and reintegrate the once pariah state into the family of nations.
Dube, a retired army Colonel, cited the Harare post-election civilian shootings as one of the careless actions which were meant to tarnish the image of the President.
The killing of six civilians and injuring of more was a high-handed reaction to citizen protests over what they found to be delays in the announcement of election results eventually won by Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party.
“There are very few issues which need to be ironed out if we are talking of the new dispensation,” Dube said.
“We have to appreciate that there are certain issues that we should iron out which the international world has been persuading us to do but there are people who are rather careless.”
Dube was speaking to journalists at the Bulawayo Media Centre.
He added, “Some people did not behave themselves properly. You see what took place, the use of guns jeopardised his (President) efforts to put back our country into the international community.
“It caused a problem but it could have been avoided if people had understood what the President was trying to do. That is to create new relations with those countries that had forsaken us for a long time.”
The Bulawayo businessman and politician said the army should have “found better ways of dealing with dissenting voices”.
He said despite the setbacks, President Mnangagwa’s administration still a chance to redeem itself.
Dube however appeared to be in disapproval of Mnangagwa’s decision to assemble a team of 25 advisors he said were too many and posed the risk of confusing the national leader.
“I thought the President might not have more than four or five people advising him on different subjects such as the economy, politics, mining, agriculture or something like that.
“Just these four are enough because Permanent Secretaries, by right, are advisors because they are chosen on their specialities,” he said.
— NewZimbabwe
