Deputy Information minister Energy Mutodi says Apostle Chiwenga will not be allowed to continue denigrating VP Chiwenga. “So when yo...
Deputy Information minister Energy Mutodi says Apostle
Chiwenga will not be allowed to continue denigrating VP Chiwenga.
“So when you call
out the name of a whole vice president in the streets and purport to disclose
his health condition, you really act outside the law. Such behaviour
constitutes high levels of disrespect and may arouse public anger and disorder,
considering that politicians have supporters who follow them.
“So our position as government is that the pastor needs to
be called to order and desist from infringing into other people’s rights. He is
free to form a political party or to join already existing ones and must not
hide under the church to further his own political ambitions or beliefs.
“There is also freedom of worship and freedom of
association. However, one needs not to infringe into other people’s rights and
liberties when exercising his or her own right. If you are preaching to your
church and you are a pastor or religious leader, you certainly do not want to
call names of political leaders and denigrate them as if you were a leader of a
rival political party. That is wrong,” he told the Daily News.
However, Apostle Chiwenga said he loved the vice president
as his brother, but was against some of the actions by government such as
chartering former first lady Grace Mugabe a plane to travel to Zimbabwe from
Singapore for her mother’s funeral and the killing of at least six people
during the post-election violence.
“Now, when he said Talent Muzuva on Sunday, I knew he was
talking about me, because Muzuva is my father’s name and Guvheya is his
father’s name and our fathers are brothers, blood brothers, same father,
Chiwenga is not his personal name, Chiwenga is a family name. The one who was
called Chiwenga is our grandfather. So, maybe he was not willing to use the
name Chiwenga because he also uses it, but I know that so many people are confused,
they do want to know what is happening and the reason why I am making this
public statement, it is because I feel that my life is in danger, not only
because of what he is doing, but most importantly because of what happened to
me on Saturday,” he said.
COMMENTS