I have lost all respect for Mugabe, says Nkala

Comment & Analysis
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU BULAWAYO — President Robert Mugabe was reluctant to become Zanu PF leader, former Home Affairs minister Enos Nkala has said.

Nkala, a founding Zanu PF me-mber told The Standard that the way Mugabe assumed the leadership of the ruling party would be exposed in a book he is writing.Nkala indicated that his book, titled The Years of Challenge — which he says should be published after his death — contains a number of untold truths revealing his experiences during, before and after independence.The former minister —who describes Zanu-PF as his baby — engineered the split of Zapu leading to theformation of Zanu at his house with Ndabaningi Sitho-le as president and Muga-be as the secretary general.Nkala said he regrets the move, which he took with the late Maurice Nyagumbo and Edgar Tekere.“Mugabe owes a lot to me. I was so close to him and I was detained with him for 10 years. I used to have a lot of respect for Mugabe. He impressed us with his English when he addressed a meeting in Harare.“But I now do not have any respect for him and I regret the decision which we took with Nyagumbo and Tekere to remove the late Sithole and replace him with Mugabe. “What makes me regret the most is that Mugabe was unwilling to be thrust to the top,” Nkala said.“I, Tekere and Nyagumbo moved a vote of no confidence against Sithole while we were in detention in Kwekwe in 1974.“Mugabe chaired the meeting. The three of us voted against Sithole and we voted for Mugabe to be acting president.“He was not willing to take up the post and he was saying that we were making a mistake. “I regret that move because even after we were released, other Zanu members like Rugare Gumbo were against our decision but we defended it and they had to go along fearing another split.”Nkala also said Mugabe was unwilling to take up politics when he was a teacher in Ghana. The former Zanu PF treasurer claimed he had to travel to the West African country to meet its leader Nkwame Nkrumah who facilitated Mugabe’s return home.