By Leopold Munhende
FORMER Cabinet minister and Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, has showered praises on opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, saying the youthful presidential hopeful has braved incessant waves of attacks from the ruling establishment unlike other cowardly activists.
Gumbo, now aged 84, has been out of the public eye since losing grip on power in Zanu PF following the November 2017 coup that ushered in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Second Republic.
Speaking to corporate lawyer, Lloyd Msipa in a conversation shared online, the liberation war hero defended his position saying he knew how far Zanu PF could go without elaborating on what he insinuated.
“Sometimes I tend to respect this young man, Chamisa, in the sense of challenges and formidable forces he faces, which we know,” said Gumbo.
“I was in Zanu PF, I know how Zanu PF operates. He has stood his ground.”
Chamisa has challenged Mnangagwa’s presidency in the country’s last two general elections.
On both occasions Chamisa has raised allegations of rigging which he has supported and used the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s (ZEC) questionable move to delay delivery of voting material in perceived opposition strongholds such as Harare.
The 45-year-old opposition activist has since taken a sabbatical from active politics, having dumped the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) citing infiltration.
His former deputies in the once vibrant MDC Alliance, Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti, who inherited the CCC party failed to get it to its past lofty heights.
Gumbo rubbished the two, alongside former MDC Alliance secretary general Douglas Mwonzora, whom he said offered nothing. He also scoffed at chances Job Sikhala would mount any meaningful challenge to the regime.
Added Gumbo: “Chamisa is the only one who has stood firm and said no to State machinery.
“Biti, Ncube, Mwonzora and Sikhala are not doing anything. In the face of this kind of thing its all rubbish. It is all rubbish!
“What I think needs to be done, which is very difficult to do, is to develop strong institutions which can withstand pressures such as the one from Zanu PF, but you cannot do it because the entire thing (political landscape) is manipulated.”
Gumbo, one of of the few surviving liberation war stalwarts, was a powerful figure during late president Robert Mugabe’s rein, but his influence in the ruling party was diminished by the military assisted coup.