Former cabinet Ministers and Zanu PF members Professor Jonathan Moyo and Patrick Zhuwao have apologised to the ruling party for their association with opposition after the military coup of 2017.
Moyo and Zhuwao, who were kingpins in the Zanu PF Generation-40 went into self imposed exile following the coup that ousted the late long time ruler Robert Mugabe.
In an open letter to Zanu PF, the duo said it was ill-advised to be associated with Nelson Chamisa and the Zanu PF Must Go hashtag.
“Between 2018 and 2020 — on the back of the 15 November 2017 military coup that ousted President Mugabe and his government from power and violently targeted us and other comrades linked with the so-called G40 – we associated ourselves and used the hashtag `Zanu PF Must Go’ (#ZanuPFMustGo), in our public messaging and communication.
“Whereas we stopped using the hashtag and disassociated ourselves from it quite some time back, it is our considered judgment that we owe you a long overdue apology for having used the hashtag and for having associated ourselves with it, in the first place. Accordingly, and on this day of 15 November 2022, we hereby apologise to all of you Comrades most sincerely and with profound regret for our wrong use of – and ill-advised association with – the hashtag `Zanu PF Must Go’ (#ZanuPFMustGo),” the pair wrote.
The former Cabinet Ministers said their criticism revolved around the need to uphold the ethos of the liberations struggle among other issues.
“While we acknowledge that we apparently but unintentionally stepped on some toes when we raised the above-listed issues, or because of the manner we raised them, we believe now as we did before 15 November 2017 that the issues that we listed above are critical to and for our country’s survival and prosperity; and that, as such, these issues are open-ended and are thus best addressed through continuous non-violent discussion and debate.
“In the circumstances, our association with the `#ZanuPFMustGo’ hashtag was ill-advised and wrong for the reasons that we have documented herein; and that is why we dropped the use of and association with that hashtag more than a year ago, hence the apology we are happy to tender to you all Zanu PF members,” further reads the letter.
In August 2020, Prof. Moyo once swore that he would never go back to Zanu PF let alone support Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“It would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for me to go back to Zanu PF, let alone to support Emmerson Mnangagwa. Red lines were crossed in Nov 2017. I cannot go back to Zanu PF and still love my wife and kids. Zanu PF will never be everyone’s party, again!” he said.
