Harare, Zimbabwe(News of the South) – A faction of Zimbabwe’s war veterans led by Christopher Mutsvangwa has reportedly apologised to its former boss, Jabulani Sibanda, after it vilified him for claiming that First Lady Grace Mugabe had staged a “bedroom coup”.
According to Newsdsy the Mutsvangwa-led executive of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) said that they apologised to the ex-freedom fighters’ chairperson after realising that his remarks were “spot-on”.
“We want to say we are very sorry about our reactions to his statement. We have realised that when he talked of ‘bedroom coup’ he was spot-on because Grace and the so-called G40 have already usurped power from Zanu-PF. Grace is just a secretary for women affairs. Where does she have the powers to insult her boss, who is the vice secretary for the party?” Nhando reportedly quizzed.
According to reports, Sibanda was charged un 2014 with insulting President Robert Mugabe by claiming the veteran leader planned to remove his then deputy Joice Mujuru and replace her with his wife.
Sibanda allegedly told a war veterans’ meeting at the time that Mugabe and his wife Grace were plotting a “bedroom coup” to remove Mujuru from office.
Sibanda was alleged to have said “power was not sexually transmitted”.
Grace won a surprise nomination in 2014 to lead the Zanu-PF women’s league and fuelled speculation when she asked why she should not be president one day.
Sibanda was arrested in Zimbabwe’s second largest city of Bulawayo, 439km south of the capital Harare.
Since then the embattled war veterans have embarked on tough war with a rival group suspected of backing Grace in replacing her husband.
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