Sacked Zimbabwe No 2 lashes out at Mugabe ‘lies’
ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe’s former vice president yesterday vowed to return home to ‘‘fight’’ for democracy as he revealed he had fled the country after being sacked and labelled a ‘‘traitor’’.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, left his government office on Tuesday, several hours before Robert Mugabe, 93, the president, dismissed him and accused him of being ‘‘deceitful’’ and ‘‘disloyal’’.
The ex-vice president, reported to be in either Mozambique or South Africa, released a five-page statement, via his family in Harare, in which he said he would return to campaign against Mugabe in elections next year.
‘‘I will fight tooth and nail against those making a mockery of Zanu-PF founding principles, ethos and values,’’ he said. Mugabe yesterday told thousands of supporters that Mnangagwa was a ‘‘deviant’’, adding that he [Mnangagwa] had told supporters the president would retire in March. ‘‘Upon realising that I wasn’t [stepping down], he started to consult traditional healers on when I was going to die. At some point, he was told that he would die before me,’’ Mugabe said.
The move to sack Mnangagwa clears a path to the presidency for Grace Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s first lady, who on Monday labelled the ex-vice president a ‘‘traitor’’.
Mnangagwa, who served the government for 37 years, was one of the first to launch armed attacks against white-minority Rhodesia and served 10 years in prison before going into -exile in Mozambique. He then served at Mr Mugabe’s side as his personal assistant and bodyguard.
Yesterday, the country’s War Veterans Association, which is loyal to Mnangagwa, said it had expelled Mr Mugabe as its leader and formed a revolutionary council to take over Zanu-PF. - Telegraph Group