SUSPENDED Zanu-PF youth league political commissar Godfrey Tsenengamu is not going down without a fight, and has demanded answers as to why the ruling party’s Politburo has not censored or even suspended President Emmerson Mnangagwa for doing exactly the same things that got the youth leaders suspended last week.
The Politburo moved with speed last week and suspended Tsenengamu and his colleague Lewis Matutu after the duo named and shamed Zanu-PF linked businessmen for alleged corruption and looting of State resources.
In suspending the two, acting party spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa said they had not followed party procedures, while President Mnangagwa himself accused the youth leaders of unchecked activism.
Chinamasa followed that by announcing yesterday that where any citizen has evidence of corruption against any person the correct procedure is to report to Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) or Prosecutor General so that the allegations can be investigated.
“Naming and shaming that targets perceived successful business people be they black or white, breeds fertile ground for extortionists, rent seeking behaviour and will have one outcome, that is haunting such people out of the country into exile which will not help this economy whose growth must be driven by local business people.”
But a supercharged Tsenengamu, propelled by an ever-growing social media following, put Chinamasa to task on Thursday, demanding to know why President Mnangagwa was not suspended for also naming and shaming corrupt barons.
President Mnangagwa in March 2018, when he was just four months into the Presidency, publicly named more than 1 800 companies and individuals he accused of illegally stashing hundreds of millions of dollars overseas and not bringing the money home under a now-expired amnesty deal.
Tsenengamu queries how his act last week was any different from what the Head of State did two years ago.
“Dear Cde Chinamasa. Cde Shef when President Mnangagwa named and shamed those who externalized forex you didn’t say it’s not party policy to name and shame.
“You didn’t say it promotes those with extortionist tendencies and rent seeking behaviour.
“You didn’t say he must tow the party line. You didnt say he is dividing the party. You didn’t say he must follow procedure.
“You didn’t suspend him You didn’t say he must attend Chitepo college. You didn’t say he is scaring away investors.
“You didn’t say he must report to ZACC. You didn’t say he must bring evidence. Why me??”
Meanwhile, Tsenengamu declared last week that he would not enrol with the Chitepo Ideological College, a Zanu-PF institution, saying he was already ideologically solid.
— Zimbabwe Voice