Safe in the embrace of a virtual stranger
was not going to tell her. This was too dangerous. If I had told her, she would have been fighting for her husband, whereas her husband had now found a new mission in life. She might have seen this as too dangerous and I can tell you 100% that we would have ended up not doing it because her input would have counted and she would have persuaded me not to go ahead. She would have raised certain concerns which I already had, but I was suppressing them because there was a need to do greater good.”
So well kept was Maphosa’s secret that she did not know he was involved until she saw the former vicepresident with her husband at her doorstep days later.
‘Find any disguise — and get to the airport’
On the run, Mnangagwa meanwhile communicated with Maphosa at two-hour intervals. Different mobile phones and numbers were used to keep in touch and quickly discarded to prevent bugging or being tracked down by Zimbabwe’s state security agents.
After a call around 10pm, Maphosa did not receive any more from Mnangagwa. Although worried by the absence of communication, Maphosa went to bed with all his mobile phones switched on, hopeful that contact would be made soon.
About 1.30am Mnangagwa called and told
Maphosa that he had crossed into Mozambique and was headed for Beira.
“Good shot. I know what to do from here. Find any disguise that you can and do whatever you can, but get to the airport.”
Although Maphosa was unwilling to go into specific detail, it seems that Mnangagwa and his entourage arrived at the airport in Beira, disguised to make it difficult for the Mozambican authorities to recognise him.
At 6am, Maphosa dispatched his plane from South Africa to Beira to pick up Mnangagwa and his sons — the beginning of yet another nerve-racking episode. There were delays getting the paperwork for the plane, and this fuelled fears that Mozambique was using delaying tactics.
“The clearance took a long time to come. I was worried, wondering why and thinking that perhaps they were busy conveying information to the Zimbabwe government. ’
Finally, after a 12-hour wait, the plane left Beira at 6.15pm, headed for South Africa.
Mnangagwa had to trust a virtual stranger
Far from enjoying a close relationship with Mnangagwa, Maphosa can count the number of times the men had spoken before he received the call for help. “We were not really close enough to do something like this,” said Maphosa.
But desperate as he was, and fast running out of options, Mnangagwa had to trust this virtual stranger if he was to save himself and his sons. Along the way, Mnangagwa’s sons could help protect him but once in South Africa, Mnangagwa had to rely solely on Maphosa. He had only Maphosa’s word and could not predict what would happen should Maphosa buckle under pressure that could be brought to bear on him. Should word leak out that Maphosa was taking care of Mnangagwa, there was no telling what offers could be made in exchange for Mnangagwa.
Ensuring his charge’s safety in South Africa would be the next hurdle for Maphosa, and once again Mnangagwa was able to rely on his host to see him through. About 7.45pm, after a flight of 90 minutes, Maphosa’s private plane landed at Lanseria Airport outside Johannesburg.
South African police on the lookout
Maphosa was aware of the dangers of his plan from the time the plane took off from Beira. The passenger was a high-profile Zimbabwean politician who travelled on a diplomatic passport. That alone could trigger all sorts of unwanted attention. There was also the possibility of the South African government becoming involved and possibly handing Mnangagwa over to Zimbabwean authorities should Pretoria be approached by Harare.
“We had managed to survive Mozambique but now South Africa was going to be an inferno. For starters, Mozambique might have missed him because they are not as electronically savvy as we are but in SA everything is electronic; your passport is scanned, your iris checked and your temperature tested for sickness. Plus, diplomatic passports automatically ring alarm bells.”
To try to avoid detection, Maphosa had 30 identical black Range Rovers on the tarmac ready to scoop up Mnangagwa. The plan was to create confusion and make it impossible for anyone watching to know which vehicle held Mnangagwa.
The rescue was devised by Maphosa and his security team during planning sessions held at the offices of Big Time Strategic Group. They were carefully thought through, as the margin of error had to be zero, but there was no guarantee. One particular problem was that just before the plane landed, the police insisted that there were too many vehicles blocking the road. Maphosa could not say why there were so many vehicles and who it was they were collecting.
“Our mission was such that we also had to minimise the distance Mnangagwa had to walk from the plane into the car,” Maphosa said. “We didn’t want him to mingle with people. Our intention was to steal him, put him in the car and drive away. We didn’t want passers-by to realise that Emmerson was right there.”
Fortunately, at the immigration booth the diplomatic passport did not raise any suspicions and Mnangagwa walked freely through. But unbeknown to Maphosa and his convoy, while the flight from Beira was still in midair, the authorities in Mozambique informed their South African counterparts that Mnangagwa was en route. Police were consequently on the lookout for a plane from Mozambique but there had been some delay in the tip-off and the plane had already landed by the time police on the ground had the information.
“The police were also on the lookout for white bodyguards wearing civilian clothes.”
As all this was happening, Maphosa was in his car observing from a distance. “I am sitting in the car and watching all of this because I figured that as I am a known figure, if I step in there, as I am known to be flying every day, these guys [police] will want to chat with me and thereby disturb me from my mission.”
Even when the convoy of 30 vehicles finally left the airport after Mnangagwa had passed through immigration without incident, the police were still on the lookout for a plane from Mozambique.
After exiting Lanseria, the convoy split off in different directions. Almost immediately, one group that included some of Maphosa’s bodyguards was stopped by police and asked if they knew of a plane that had just landed from Mozambique. When the bodyguards said their plane had come from Swaziland, they were allowed to proceed.
Roadblocks ahead
According to Maphosa, who was travelling in a black BMW X5 M-Badge: “We decided to do this mission in different ways. We decided we will take many cars and keep playing on the road; one car will move, another will overtake and others will slow down and be overtaken. It was done so that the car in front would end up being at the back. We have too many X5s that look the same and too many Range Rovers that look the same and we had taken the number plates off all of them.
“The first four cars took off at high speed so anyone who might be following would chase after those cars first. The cars had instructions to do between 180 and 200km/h and to drive for another 30km. The idea was to see who would pick up speed and follow then those behind would accelerate and block them and allow our guys to escape.”
Once the convoy had left the airport behind, the trip was uninterrupted. The X5 M-Badge in which Mnangagwa was being chauffeured, along with his son Emmerson jnr, drove at a comfortable speed until it reached its destination, a safe house in Pretoria.
“When we were just about to reach Pretoria, we found a lot of policemen on the road. However, they were conducting routine roadblocks. Paranoia got to us: I suppose only the guilty are afraid. I was thinking, this is a roadblock and we will be searched. But fortunately, because we were driving very slowly, we were not stopped and we got to where we were taking Mnangagwa.”
As the mission proceeded smoothly and the convoy finally reached the destination, the first words were exchanged between Mnangagwa and Maphosa. “Hello, my president,” said Maphosa.
These three words broke the silence — a silence reflecting the tenseness of the situation.
Maphosa knew well that should anything go wrong, not only would it mean great trouble for him and his security team, but it would spell danger for Mnangagwa too.
When they arrived at the safe house, he felt he could at last breathe freely, confident that he had managed to pull off his bold plan.
At last feeling in full control of the situation, he spoke to Mnangagwa: “Now we are here and we are going to look after you. You have to trust me and I have to trust you. In this situation, both of us have to trust each other.”
He was a sitting duck
After their arrival, the two men did not speak very much.
Maphosa decided that he would address Mnangagwa as president as a way of reassurance that, despite the turn of events involving his dismissal, he still looked up to him and respected him as his leader. He recalls that Mnangagwa initially appeared subdued during their first meeting and seemed to be trying to come to terms with what had happened. When he got to the safe house, Mnangagwa refused to eat anything.
“He had a lot to process; it was obviously a new environment and he was put in this place, in this house where there were lots of bodyguards outside and inside.
“The bodyguards were white people and he didn’t know what to expect from them. He obviously had fears and must have been thinking that maybe they would sell him out or someone will reveal his whereabouts. By and large, he was a sitting duck and there was a lot for him to consider.”
Outside the room that Mnangagwa occupied in the safe house were two armed bodyguards. All the windows and curtains in this room were kept closed and the only electronic gadget that was switched on was the air-conditioning unit.
A supply of T-shirts, pyjamas, shirts, trousers and shoes had been made available for his use. No one was allowed entry into the room without permission from Maphosa.
Keen to ensure that Mnangagwa was secure and comfortable, Maphosa decided that he would also remain in the safe house. He left in the middle of the night to go home, where he spent a few hours before returning.
Maphosa’s wife was told that he was working on a project so as not to raise her suspicions about his prolonged absence from home.
Next morning, feeling much more settled and in a better frame of mind, Mnangagwa narrated in detail to Maphosa over breakfast what had happened to him: how Mugabe had fired him, the tip-off he had received about the plot to arrest and kill him, and the journey by road to flee the country.
During their breakfast Maphosa once again reassured Mnangagwa that he was loyal to him and available to assist in any way that was needed. “President, I am your servant and I am here to do this [protect you] and I will do it to the best of my knowledge.
“But there are certain things that I will say that we are not going to do now, so please work with me; it does not mean disrespect, it means that in this environment you are in our hands and I know what’s best. We have to work together; at certain places and at certain times we will not be able to go. Maybe certain things that you want us to do we will have to say to you it’s dangerous and we can’t do it, not now.”
‘You know, paranoia kicks in’
The first request that Maphosa made to Mnangagwa was that he hand over all electronic gadgets, in particular any mobile phones. “Anything that is electronic that you have must go; all the iPads and any tablets.”
It was only with time that Maphosa and Mnangagwa began to bond. Maphosa fondly described the relationship that developed between them as one between a father and a son. They began to work together as a team, laughed together and spent time together in prayer.
Because of his experience of the political environment in South Africa, Maphosa put aside his normal work routine so that he could be by Mnangagwa’s side and assume the role of personal aide.
His tasks involved setting up meetings for Mnangagwa, ensuring that he had access to phone calls, and also briefing him on the developments in Zimbabwe as Mnangagwa was cut off from all communication.
Although initially Mnangagwa had been confined to his room in the safe house, as trust grew and his safety was no longer considered to be under threat, the restrictions around him were relaxed.
While in South Africa, Mnangagwa went to meetings with people whose names Maphosa refuses to disclose. Most of these meetings were held in private settings and away from the public eye.
Security was a priority whenever Mnangagwa travelled, with armed security accompanying him.
“There was even a stage where we felt we were being watched. You know, paranoia kicks in, and at one time we were planning to take him to my farm. My only worry about taking him there, where I have two five-bedroom houses, is that there were Zimbabwean workers there. I figured they would know him and word would leak out very fast that Mnangagwa was under my care.”
For Maphosa, the reality of what he was involved in struck him each time they were on the move.
He is unwilling to disclose how they managed to move Mnangagwa about without anyone noticing. It seems that disguises were a feature of Mnangagwa’s stay while he was in exile in South Africa.
Maphosa believes that without God’s intervention it would have been impossible to keep Mnangagwa alive and secure during his stay in South Africa.
Maphosa claims that so closely guarded was the secret that even then-president Jacob Zuma did not know that the soon-to-be Zimbabwean president was in the country.
To try to avoid detection, Maphosa had 30 identical black Range Rover SUVs on the tarmac to scoop up Mnangagwa once he disembarked from the plane. Any persons watching would be unable to identify which one he had entered
Ray Ndlovu is a Sunday Times journalist based in Harare.