BULAWAYO – President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesman risked a diplomatic spat with Zambia on Tuesday after repeating a slur he first used in May when he described new president Hakainde Hichilema as a “sellout.”
George Charamba snapped on Twitter – apparently angry that Hichilema and his United Party for National Development (UPND) invited Movement for Democratic Change Alliance officials, including the party’s leader Nelson Chamisa to Tuesday’s inauguration.
The outburst came after comparisons were drawn between comments by Charamba when Hichilema was still in the opposition, and after his landslide victory in the August 12 elections when he appeared to suggest Mnangagwa and Hichilema are getting on quite well.
Commenting on a picture of Hichilema standing with Chamisa, Zitto Kabwe of Tanzania and Mmusi Maimane, the former leader of South Africa’s Democratic Alliance, Charamba wrote on May 25: “Zvivatengesi” – a Shona word meaning “sellouts”, and a common label used by Zanu PF officials for anyone challenging the party’s hegemony.
On Tuesday, political commentator Alex Magaisa pointed to the awkwardness of Charamba and Mnangagwa attending the inauguration of a “sellout.”
“Hongu zvivatengesi! (Yes, they are sellouts!) What’s your problem?” Charamba snapped.
Zimbabwean officials have been touchy over the MDC Alliance’s connections with Hichilema and the UPND – whose victory has inspired opposition parties in the region. Hichilema’s victory forced Mnangagwa to tell a gathering in Mutare that “if anyone dreams of what happened in Zambia crossing over here, they must wake up and brew beer, ancestral spirits have deserted you.”
Mnangagwa’s mood would not have lightened up when Hichilema invited Chamisa and a host of other opposition parties in the region to the inauguration, a break with usual diplomatic protocols.
The MDC delegation was introduced to a packed stadium in Lusaka, with Chamisa and his deputy Tendai Biti both invited to congratulate Hichilema. Biti, who was deported from Zambia by the ousted former leader Edgar Lungu while fleeing persecution at home, got the loudest cheer after giving Hichilema a hug.
