President Mnangagwa paid tribute to former Vice President Kembo Mohadi, who resigned from Government but remains Vice President of the revolutionary party Zanu PF, saying the resignation was unexpected.

Addressing the 349th Ordinary Session of the Politburo at the revolutionary party headquarters in Harare, the President, who is also the Zanu PF First Secretary, expressed gratitude to his deputy for the service he rendered while in Government.

“We convened today following the resignation of Col (Rtd) Cde KCD Mohadi from the post of Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. His resignation from the governance architecture of the Republic was unexpected.

“On behalf of the Government, the Party Zanu PF and indeed on my own behalf, I would like to thank the former Vice President Col (Rtd) Cde KCD Mohadi for his service to our country. I commend him for the role he played under the Second Republic in advancing our Government’s national development agenda as enunciated in Vision 2030 and National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1),” said the President.

On Monday, Cde Mohadi resigned from the Government saying he wanted to save the image of the Government and make time to pursue legal remedies in the wake of allegations on social media that suggested immoral behaviour.

In tendering his resignation, he maintained his innocence saying he was a victim of “information distortion, voice cloning, and sponsored spooking and political sabotage”.

VP Mohadi said he had been going through a soul-searching pilgrimage and realised he needed space to deal with his problems. He said he arrived at the decision to resign not “as a matter of cowardice but as a demonstration of great respect for the Office of the President so that it is not compromised or caricatured by actions linked to his individual challenges.

Meanwhile, in his address to the Politburo, the President exhorted party members to maintain unity and remain focused in pursuing developmental projects that benefit the party and its structures to continue attracting new membership as has been witnessed in the recent past.

“I exhort the party to maintain unity and to remain focused on the development programmes and activities towards increasing productivity, creating jobs, fighting corruption and growing our economy. Let us further cherish and inculcate the values of Ubuntu, accountability, transparency and hard-honest work. These are the pillars upon which our party thrives and grows.

“Politburo will recall that in our previous meeting, I noted that our party policies, programmes and activities are attracting more members. Last week saw senior MDC officials and former legislators, Lillian Timveous and Blessing Chebundo abandoning the opposition to join ZANU PF. Other personalities from opposition formations in various parts of the country are also seeing the light and opting to join our winning team,” he said.

The President added that the Chitepo School of Ideology should speedily move to reorient those who are re-joining Zanu PF and nurture them.

“We are indeed a party with a rich revolutionary history: A party with plans for the present times and a party with a vision for the future. The party structures should embrace these comrades who have come back home. The Chitepo School of Ideology must move with speed to re-orient and nurture these new cadres in line with the ideology of our party and the national development paradigm, which is under way. The leagues of the party must equally build on this ever growing popularity of the party and broaden their mobilisation programmes as we scale up preparations for the 2023 Harmonised General Elections,” he said.

While the opposition is splitting by the day with nationwide defections, the governing party is growing from strength to strength as its policies resonate with the broad masses.