By Edgar Gabarinocheka | Great Dyke News 24
In a fiery response laced with constitutional clarity and protocol precision, Deputy Chief Secretary for Presidential Communications, George Charamba — known on X (formerly Twitter) as @Jamwanda2 — has clapped back at The NewsHawks for suggesting that the early-morning welcome of President Emmerson Mnangagwa was a page torn straight from the dusty personality cult playbook of the late Robert Mugabe.
Like a seasoned village elder correcting a wayward youth at a dare, Jamwanda took to X to “assist” NewsHawks and, as he phrased it, “others,” who might be caught off guard by the nuanced legalities and ceremonial requirements surrounding the temporary transfer — and return — of presidential power.
“TO ASSIST @NewsHawksLive AND OTHERS,” he began, deploying capital letters like war drums, “The law of the Land spells out who acts in place of the Head of State when he is away and out of the country for whatever reason.”
He then unfolded, step by procedural step, what he painted as a sacred dance of democratic order — a choreography steeped not in idolatry, but in the laws of the land and international norms of governance.
“The Head of State is required by the same law to designate the person who stands in his place,” Jamwanda schooled. “Beyond that, the person so designated is required to be at the point of EXIT, which is the PORT at which the extant Head of State leaves the country.”
In what read like a slow-burning lecture from a constitutional catechism, Charamba revealed that failure by the Acting President to be physically present at the port of exit could, in fact, delay the President’s departure.
“So important is this procedure that the person designated has to be physically present, or else the Head of State may not leave the country,” he emphasized. “On several occasions, we have had to either facilitate rapid transfer of a Vice President designated to act, or even delay the departure of the Head of State.”
He added with poetic gravity:
“The port of Exit is that point where the sitting Head of State hands over instruments of power to the character chosen to act. This is why the Acting character actually gets saluted by the command, led by the CDF, once the incumbent is airborne.”
But it was on the matter of President Mnangagwa’s return — greeted at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in the dead of night by Acting President Constantino Chiwenga, Vice President Kembo Mohadi, ministers, service chiefs and a bevy of officials — that Jamwanda seemed most intent on brushing off the “cult of personality” label.
“Fast forward to the Head of State’s return,” he explained, “Again, the Acting President MUST be at the PORT of re-entry to HAND BACK INSTRUMENTS OF POWER temporarily given him in an ACTING CAPACITY.”
“He appears together with the Command, and is the first one to greet the Head of State upon his return. In that welcome and handshake is the symbolic act of HANDING BACK power ceded temporarily to its elected owner.”
It is a matter, he argued, of solemn statecraft, not sycophantic theatre.
“Even if it happens that the Acting President gets incapacitated when the President is away, the President is required to make a fresh appointment of an Acting person, a decision which gets communicated through the Chief Secretary,” Jamwanda added, cementing his argument like a craftsman polishing a granite tombstone.
And in a final verbal bow — possibly directed at critics he views as swayed more by cynicism than civic understanding — he thundered:
“Receiving party for a sitting Head of State is a matter of international practice; it is not unique to Zimbabwe. Know ye all men and women of goodwill!!!!”
While NewsHawks saw shadows of Mugabe-era hero worship in the 2 a.m. airport gathering, Jamwanda saw — and laid bare — the spine of the state, unbending and unapologetic. In his words, what unfolded under the Harare night sky wasn’t a political séance but a constitutional ritual — one that must be performed, come rain, shine, or even sceptical headlines.
Whether his “assistance” lands as a masterclass in governance or a masterstroke of political theatre may depend, ultimately, on which side of Zimbabwe’s airport gates you stand.
