The Sunday Mail
Last week, President Mugabe appointed decorated military strategist and career diplomat Ambassador Phelekezela Mphoko to the post of Second Vice-President responsible for National Healing, Peace and Reconciliation.
Ambassador Mphoko takes office as the ruling Zanu-PF is carrying out a structural realignment that has already seen several party heavyweights fall by the wayside.
Our Senior Reporters Lincoln Towindo and Kuda Bwititi spoke to Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa — the newly-appointed War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and Restrictees Welfare Services Minister — who enjoyed a lengthy stint of diplomatic service alongside VP Mphoko.
This is Ambassador Mutsvangwa on Ambassador Mphoko in his own words.
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Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko is a stalwart.
I am so happy about his elevation. Zimbabwe is fortunate that VP Mphoko has been chosen for this post.
He is one of the early cadres of the military side of the liberation struggle.
Between 1968 and 1969, he was one of the commanders during the battle at Hwange where the combined forces of Zipra and Umkhonto we Sizwe — who had joined forces and confronted the Rhodesians and actually temporarily captured Hwange — until the Rhodesians launched a counter-offensive.
He goes a long way from the pioneer stages of the struggle. His patriotic commitment to Zimbabwe has been unwavering. When we were searching for unity between Zapu and Zanu during the war, Cde Mphoko played a key role as the liaison officer between the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo and President Mugabe. He was posted to Maputo, Mozambique, in 1976.
So, the quest for unity between the two fighting forces of the Patriotic Front was the central task given to him.
Along the way, he got exposure to Mozambique and that is where he got his wife.
The coronation of his efforts was the joint military command, then later the Patriotic Front, which prosecuted the war to its successful conclusion in 1979.
It was so crucial — the role he played — because while they were advancing from Zambia and Botswana — Zipra that is — we were advancing from Mozambique.
And in 1978-79, our forces started overlapping in Mberengwa, Guurve and other areas. It could have been very easy for there to have been skirmishes between the two sides of the same liberation movement. But courtesy of the good work of Cde Mphoko and his fellow comrades from the Zanla side, we ended up at the point of carrying out joint operations against the Rhodesians. This is the sterling work which we must credit to our Vice President and that can only come from the long years of exposure to the struggle. He knew it inside out.
At independence, he joined the diplomatic service, which was only natural because he is a person who knows how to break barriers. He did a fantastic job in Russia and in other countries, and, recently, in South Africa at a very crucial time when President Jacob Zuma became the president of the republic.
He worked in Russia, courtesy of his Zipra background (Zipra got support from the Soviet Union). He also built on his experience as a Zipra cadre and used his diplomatic acumen to build relations between Russia and Zimbabwe.
And he was to do the same in South Africa because of his Umkhonto weSizwe background. He had particularly close links with the ANC.
The older commanders of the ANC were actually some of his lieutenants at the battle of Hwange.
He has a lot of respect in South Africa.
Our neighbour, South Africa, is very happy that one of their commanders —because ANC played a role in the battles fought here in Zimbabwe — has been elevated. He has a wealth of experience in all aspects of the struggle.
Add to that the crucial roles he discharged during the armed struggle inasfar as building relations with Russia, our relations with South Africa and our intra Zanla-Zipra relations.
He is the man who is now at the helm of our Vice Presidency. And he was accorded this job which our late Vice-President (John Landa) Nkomo was doing (National Reconciliation) because it is in his veins.
He knows how to broker relationships: that is the role he is now going to play among Zimbabweans — to unify them, to harmonise them and to deliver a new economy to Zimbabwe.
Expect him to add his flair to the task of keeping Zimbabwe united.
We are an African country — after our hiccup in the 1980s — that has been internal strife of any serious dimension and we want that to continue.
Without unity, there is no development. Zimbabwe is fortunate considering that we are a nation born out of the crucible of an armed struggle.
Bearing arms and using arms is natural to Zimbabweans because we fought one of the most glorious wars Africa has ever fought. But if you look at the peaceful nature of Zimbabweans, we behave as though we don’t know that guns exist.
Cde Mphoko’s task is, therefore, to maintain that tradition of peace and unity. He is coming in when he has had exposure to the Brics.
South Africa is an important conduit of capital; Johannesburg is the financial capital of Africa.
We now have Zim-Asset. We need capital from abroad, and South Africa is the conduit. What better person can discharge that role because he was ambassador in South Africa?
He knows the financial services of South Africa. More importantly, he has direct access to the state president. In fact, he was the Best Man at President Zuma’s wedding.
They used to work together in Maputo when President Zuma was the ANC’s intelligence officer during the liberation struggle. He has very good chemistry with the South African president.
And not only him, but with many of the cadres who are now the leaders in South Africa. This is what he brings to the table: a wealth of experience of working together with cadres from one of our neighbours and one of the most important African economies.
He brings to the table exposure to Russia who are responsible for the veto in 2007 that saved Zimbabwe from the fate of Iraq and Libya.
