Followers of Grace Mugabe tried to kill me, says president

ZIMBABWE’S new president has implicated a ruling party faction loyal to Robert Mugabe’s wife in a bomb attack that nearly killed him at the weekend.

Ahead of next month’s election, Emmerson Mnangagwa said rivals who wanted Grace Mugabe as president may have been behind an apparent assassination attempt on Saturday.

Renewing an intense rivalry with the former first lady, Mr Mnangagwa said he suspected Mrs Mugabe’s G40 faction of being behind the attack because it opposed the democratic turn the country had taken under his stewardship.

“The people who are aggrieved about the new dispensation are the G40,” he told the BBC.

Two people were killed when a bomb exploded as Mr Mnangagwa left the podium during a Zanu-pf rally in Bulawayo. Among 40 wounded was the wife of Gen Constantino Chiwenga, the vice-president who launched the military takeover that ousted Mr Mugabe and brought Mr Mnangagwa to power in November.

No arrests or claims of responsibility have been made, and Mr Mnangagwa admitted he had no evidence to support his assertion. But the attack has rattled nerves in a country with a history of election-related violence.

Some suggested the bombing was an “inside job” but this is unlikely as the president appears to have been lucky to have survived the blast.

According to reports, Mr Mnangagwa yesterday pulled out of his first rally since the blast, in Hwange, northwest Zimbabwe.

Mr Mnangagwa leads Nelson Chamisa, his nearest opponent, by 11 points in opinion polls. However, there are suggestions that the elections might be a lot tighter.