By Ray Nkosi | Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has gone into overdrive disowning a mug he has been controversially pictured with.

He has also disowned war veterans who have supported him during Zanu PF’s ongoing factional wars.

Mnangagwa hit the headlines after he was pictured with his fiery spin doctor, Energy Mutodi. The two were snapped on the spot in each others arms sipping a drink together, within hours of Mutodi publishing a damning report that says President Robert Mugabe now ranks number 4 in the politburo in terms of power and influence. In that list, Mnangagwa sits at number one. The list was printed on the same day Mnangagwa appeared on paper print with Mutodi while sipping a drink from a large cup titled, “I Am The Boss.” It is for that reason that Mnangagwa’s mug has been termed an “Anti -Mugabe Mug.”

Higher Education minister, Jonathan Moyo, whose father was killed under Mnangagwa’s command in the 1983 Gukurahundi massacre put the man to order linking the mug matter to a British Magazine The New Statesman titled, “the last days of Robert Mugabe’’.

He tweeted ‘‘Mug-saga can’t hide link of photo & this article!’’

The acting President has wasted acres of space in the Chronicle and Herald pushing his own personal agendas that are outside his current mandate as acting Vice President in the absence of President Mugabe, a clear abuse of office. He must be stopped, says his counterpart Phelekezela Mphoko, SEE VIDEO:

But Mnangagwa, in a statement through the state media Wednesday evening, sought to clear his name before his boss returns from his vacation. “Against the background of many utterances and activities, all of them unsolicited but claiming or seeking association with my person, my family and or my position both in Zanu PF and in Government, I want to make it clear that there are elements on the loose who talk and act as if they support me and or the party, Zanu PF, when in fact they are being handled and managed from elsewhere by hostile forces,” said Mnangagwa.

He added, “These elements are against the President, are against the party and its leadership. In other instances, they have a history of disloyalty to the party and hostility to the President, which is well- documented.

“It is preposterous to claim to support or act in the name of the party, or of individuals in Zanu PF, while at the same time attacking President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, himself the undisputed leader of our party.

“Simply put, one cannot pretend to support the party while rejecting its President, attacking its core tenets, or undermining it’s tried and tested ways of conducting its business.”

He went on, “I go farther to say if you do not support the President who is my leader, it means you do not support me as part of the same Presidium which the President heads, or the Party.”

Columnist and news commentator Steve Blomefield spoke following the development, SEE VIDEO:

Meanwhile, Mnangagwa continued, “equally, all those who are bent on drawing a wedge between me and my leader, Cde R.G Mugabe, are sure to fail. My association, belief and loyalty to the President and First Secretary of Zanu PF, Cde R.G Mugabe, goes far back in history and got deepened and strengthened even further during the days of our armed struggle for national liberation.

“That loyalty and belief remains undiminished and is too deep to be shaken by cheap and contrived malice.”

“Let it also be known that our party, Zanu-PF has one national spokesperson. It has one mouthpiece and established channels and platforms for communicating its views, ideas, policies and activities.

“Those who have either been expelled from the party, or who zealously designate themselves as its mouthpiece, are not, and cannot, speak for it. Kana wabva pana VaMugabe wabva paleadership yese yemusangano,” said Acting President Mnangagwa.

The state media claims the mug “was part of the numerous Christmas presents that the Acting President received for Christmas which he took to his rural home unopened”.

“When the Acting President and his family were opening the gifts around 10pm at night, Mutodi – who masqueraded as an MP – arrived, uninvited, and began posing for pictures which he posted on social media where they were latched onto by Prof Moyo who feverishly began tweeting to give them a sinister interpretation,” said the broadsheet.