President Emmerson Mnangagwa sold a total of 50 380 copies of his biography titled “A Life of Sacrifice” during an event held at State House on Thursday morning.
According to the Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications), George Charamba, the 130-page book is being sold for US$15.00 per copy. Charamba tweeted:
A total of 50 380 copies were sold at the launch, at USD15 a-piece!!!!!
Life of Sacrifice” chronicles Mnangagwa’s experiences during the Southern Rhodesia era where he spent 10 years in prison, to present-day Zimbabwe. Said Charamba:
A LIFE OF SACRIFICE is the first-ever biography of the President of Zimbabwe, His Excellency Emmerson Hlupeko Dambudzo Mnangagwa.
Remarkably detailed, it traces the tumultuous life of a freedom fighter who escapes the noose by a whisker, to suffer ten-year imprisonment in isolation in settler colonial Rhodesia’s cruel D-Class cell reserved for persons deemed dangerous.
Undeterred, the freedom fighter rejoins comrades to wage the armed struggle from Mozambique until the final victory in 1980 when Zimbabwe becomes free and independent.
Independent Zimbabwe’s first State Security minister, the middle-aged Emmerson bears the onerous burden of coordinating the delicate process of integrating hitherto warring armies into one National Army loyal to the new dispensation.
Simultaneously, he is also watching over the nascent State as Security Minister, in which role he foils countless attempts at violently reversing the new order.
The biography traces the eventful life of a cadre-turned-president whose life and fate intersects with that of the very country he now presides over.
Renowned historian Miles Tendi has criticised the biography, saying it contains historical falsehoods and silences. Tendi tweeted:
ED was not a member of the Crocodile Gang; Silence on the 1980’s Gukurahundi; Silence on the DRC War; Silence on the death of Solomon Mujuru; The 2017 military coup is referred to as a “military assisted transition”.
The book was authored by Eddie Cross, an economist and former MDC Member of Parliament. Cross told a local daily publication that he got to know Mnangagwa during the process of writing the book. Responding’s to Cross’ comments, MDC Alliance treasurer-general David Coltart said:
This single tweet answers a lot of questions in my mind; explains riddles of the past. In the interests of transparency, I look forward to hearing from Eddie Cross how much he was paid to do this.
