I knew that Mugabe was the wrong choice at Independence - Rugare Gumbo

Former Cabinet minister and one of the leaders of the Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) party, Rugare Gumbo has claimed that he has known since the 1970s that Robert Mugabe was the wrong man to lead the country. Gumbo claims that Mugabe is the opposite of the late chairman Herbert Chitepo and has always been dictatorial. Speaking at the launch of former Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara’s book at Dr Ibbo Mandaza’s Sapes Trust, Gumbo said:

During the liberation war we started seeing certain tendencies about him and, as early as the 1970s when we started working with Mugabe, it was apparent that those tendencies were going to be a problem to all of us.

When we went to congress in 1977, we again stressed the same points that the direction the party was taking was not the one.

We started seeing decisions just being made without any consultations…There was a huge difference between Mugabe and Chitepo. Chitepo was a true democrat.

When we gained independence in 1980, I said during an interview that we were too much overwhelmed by the euphoria of independence and during the time, it was taboo to criticise liberators.

Buy Samsung, itel, Redmi smartphones in Zimbabwe

WhatsApp: +263715068543

I remained bold and told Zimbabweans that while we were so excited, we will regret but I was dismissed as a dissenter.

More: New Zimbabwe