Mugabe axes vice-president Mnangagwa

Former blue-eyed boy loses battle with first lady

President Robert Mugabe has fired vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, his former blue-eyed boy, ending a relationship spanning more than 40 years.

Conveying the message at a hastily arranged media conference‚ the minister of information and broadcasting services‚ Simon Khaya Moyo‚ said “the vice-president has consistently and persistently exhibited traits of disloyalty‚ disrespect and unreliability in the execution of his duties”.

Mnangagwa‚ who started out as Mugabe’s chief of security during the armed struggle in 1976, was not meant to go out this way – at least not yet.

He led a faction in the party called Team Lacoste, which was fighting against another called Generation 40‚ fronted by Mugabe’s wife‚ Grace.

However‚ as the succession fight continued‚ it became clear that Mugabe was on his wife’s side and the plan was to drop him next month at the party’s extraordinary congress.

The first lady had the liberty to openly fire salvos at Mnangagwa but a rally in Bulawayo on Saturday was the decider. Mugabe sprang to his wife’s defence when a section of the crowd heckled and booed her.

Grace Mugabe shed a tear as she took her seat at the White City Stadium rally.

“Did I make a mistake by appointing him as my vice-president? If I did‚ then I can fire him even tomorrow. He should go start his own party‚” a visibly angry Mugabe said as Mnangagwa looked on.

He kept his word and fired Mnangagwa and 29 other party members aligned to him.