Presidential spokesman George Charamba - who has served decades in the corridors of power - found himself caught in a familiar communication dilemma yet again when his immediate boss President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga used the same Shona expression, "mazvake mazvake", in their polarised addresses to the just-ended Zanu PF Annual National People's Conference in Chinhoyi on Saturday, with some people suggesting he had written or influenced both, trying to serve two masters at the same time. He was accused of influencing both rival speeches in which Mnangagwa, clearly referring to Chiwenga, said "MuZanu PF hakuna mazvake mazvake (there is no room for individualism or pursuit of personal agendas in Zanu PF". He appeared to be responding to what Chiwenga had earlier said in a scathing speech while introducing him to the conference. Chiwenga said "mazvake mazvake haana kwaanotisvitsa" (pursuit of personal interests will not take us anywhere). The two clashing addresses put Charamba, who is Mnangagwa’s spokesperson but close to Chiwenga, in a dilemma. Vocal former Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial chairman and ex-Norton independent MP, Temba Mliswa, publicly attacked Chiwenga's speech, calling it "corrosive and discordant" when compared to Mnangagwa's. Mliswa targeted Charamba directly for the administration's "internal messaging disaster", warning if Charamba was responsible for crafting contradictory speeches for the country's leadership, he represented an "existential danger to the coherence of the state" and should be fired. Charamba and Mliswa have traded barbs over political loyalty and communication issues for a long time. Mliswa has previously called for Charamba’s dismissal, while Charamba has described Mliswa as a nonentity. Politically, Mliswa's achievements have been phenomenal given that he has not been a political activist in an organisationally and ideologically grounded, structured and consistent way, rising from through the ranks. He is largely a self-made major political actor. Charamba has been government's communication czar for decades. He joined the public service in 1984 as a press officer in the Ministry of Information, Post and Telecommunication Services, and was seconded as Press Secretary to the late former ceremonial president Canaan Banana from 1984 to 1987. After Banana's office was abolished following the 1987 Unity Accord and a major power structural shift (abolishing the ceremonial presidency and prime minister's positions for the executive presidency), Charamba joined the late former president Robert Mugabe's office in 1988 as an Assistant Secretary in President's Information Unit (deputising Linda Chihuri), and later became Mugabe's official Press Secretary; much later Permanent Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Services starting in 2000. Now he is Deputy Chief Secretary for Presidential Communications in the Office of the President and Cabinet and Presidential Spokesperson. Charamba has over the decades tried to maintain reasonably good political and media relations (in the olden days he would even take critical private media journalists to tour the President’s Office and ensure collaborative relations). However, he would also become combative and personal in his interactions with media and journalists. He would act crude and nasty (hiding under pseudonyms on newspaper columns initially and later social media), earning himself critics and opponents within and outside the ruling and government. He sometimes targeted certain journalists and media platforms, especially those that remain stubbornly independent, expose leadership, governance and policy failures, as well as corruption and incompetence, within the regime he serves. At times he becomes downright petty and vindictive; excludes certain media platforms or journalists from state occasions, mainly access to Mnangagwa. Charamba has been good, bad and ugly in his communication practice.