Mugabe rival faces threat of treason charge
Police may bring fraud, murder charges against sacked vice-president Mnangagwa
Police in Zimbabwe may bring treason, fraud, and murder charges against a sacked vice-president who has vowed to challenge the grip of President Robert Mugabe’s family on power.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who for nearly 40 years served as Mugabe’s right-hand man until he lost a bitter power struggle with First Lady Grace Mugabe, fled Zimbabwe last Tuesday after the 93-year-old dictator fired him for “unreliability” and allegedly plotting a coup more than 30 years ago.
The Sunday Telegraph understands that Mnangagwa is now in South Africa, where he is attempting to muster support to challenge Mugabe at presidential elections next year.
It is unclear whether he will be able to mount a serious challenge to Grace Mugabe from abroad, however.
His shock removal follows a bitter public feud with Grace Mugabe over the succession when the increasingly frail president dies or retires, and has sparked fears of a potentially violent purge as she moves to consolidate her control over the ruling Zanu-PF party and, with it, the country.
Mnangagwa cleared his desk early last Monday morning after refusing a summons to meet Mugabe at his palatial residence.
Mnangagwa’s statement
Friends and colleagues told reporters that he tendered his resignation hours before the government announced that he had been fired.
Mnangagwa then fled to Mozambique by car after the police and army protection teams had been withdrawn from his Harare home. The potential treason charges are linked to an angry, condemnatory statement which the 75-year-old released as he fled into exile.
“It is being carefully examined and appropriate response and action will be made afterwards,” Simon Khaya Moyo, the information minister, told journalists in Harare when asked about the statement.
Several lawyers in Harare told The Sunday Telegraph that there are lines in Mnangagwa’s five-page statement that could constitute treason. They include: “I leave this post, for now. I encourage all loyal members of the party to remain in the party to register to vote as we will very soon control the levers of power in our beautiful party and country.”
“You (Mugabe) and your cohorts will instead leave ZanuPF by the will of the people and this we will do in the coming weeks,” the statement goes on.
“Zimbabweans in general now require new progressive leadership that is not resident in the past and refuses to accept change.”
Murder charge
Almost every major political leader in Zimbabwe has been charged with treason by Mugabe since the country’s independence in 1980.
Separately, police said they are investigating Mnangagwa in connection with four murders, as well as political violence in connection with illegal gold panning in and around Mnangagwa’s home district, Kwekwe, in central Zimbabwe.
One of the cases involves the attempted murder of Godfrey Majonga, a former state broadcaster, who was left paralysed and never walked again after a brutal assault 30 years ago.