FIRST Lady Grace Mugabe reportedly confronted under-fire
Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa during a tense briefing ahead of a Zanu PF
youth league national assembly meeting in Harare on Saturday and openly told
him to quit over allegations of fomenting factionalism and plotting President
Robert Mugabe’s downfall.
Mnangagwa, who according to sources at the meeting, sat
stone-faced, is under growing pressure from his G40 rivals, who want him to
step down on accusations of fuelling factionalism and creating a parallel
government structure.
Insiders said at the closed-door briefing, Grace drew
comparisons between Mnangagwa and his predecessor, Joice Mujuru.
It was the first time Grace was meeting Mnangagwa since her
mid-week rant in which she described the VP
as “a nobody, who was given a job by my husband”.
“During the briefing, Grace drew parallels between
Mnangagwa and Mujuru, accusing the VP of plotting against the President. She
accused Mnangagwa of holding a grudge against (Higher Education minister)
Jonathan Moyo, arguing he has sought to have him arrested each time he is
acting president,” a source said.
“The First Lady actually demanded that Mnangagwa should
have been expelled instead of youths and war veterans’ leaders”.
Mujuru was expelled from Zanu PF and the government in 2014
on similar accusations of plotting to topple Mugabe, including an
unsubstantiated elaborate assassination plot with assistance from an Israeli
intelligence arm.
Grace is also said to be angry with Mnangagwa for claiming
that he was poisoned, leading to his airlifting to South Africa for treatment,
including insinuations that ice-cream from Mugabe’s Gushungo Dairies was used
in the assassination bid.
The First Lady, according to sources, accused Mnangagwa of
being “the godfather of factionalism”.
“She demanded that Mnangagwa be fired, indicating she was
scared of what could happen to her if the President were to leave him in power.
Grace accused Mnangagwa of getting support from war veterans, expelled youth
and getting loud cheers from party supporters at rallies”.
According to sources, Mnangagwa refused to be drawn into
the furore, saying he would rather reserve his comments out of respect for the
First Lady.
“Mnangagwa refused to be drawn into a slanging match with
Grace, arguing he would not respond to ‘Mother of the Nation’, but will respond
to Moyo’s accusations at the next politburo meeting. Mnangagwa reportedly said:
‘I am happy she has aired her bitterness’ and promised more at the next meeting
of the politburo.”
Youth league secretary for administration, Xavier Kazizi
referred questions to his boss, Kudzanai Chipanga.
“Talk to Chipanga or Innocent Hamandishe. The issues you
are raising are their domain,” Kazizi said.
Chipanga and Hamandishe were not available for comment.
Zanu PF’s politburo meets this Wednesday, with Mnangagwa
expected to respond to accusations from Moyo that he has captured State
institutions, with a view to take over from Mugabe.
Moyo also accused Mnangagwa of forcing former journalist
and now Danhiko Project administrator, Godfrey Majonga to “either sit on a hot
stove or jump from a flat” after an encounter that reportedly left the
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe chairperson crippled.
In the run-up to the youth assembly meeting, NewsDay heard
there was a plan to stop Mnangagwa from attending the event.
“The youth league wrote a letter inviting the President,
the two VPs (Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko) and the First Lady. Senior G40
leaders did everything in their power to stop Mnangagwa from attending the
youth meeting. On Friday, a youth league official was sent to withdraw the
letter from the Justice ministry under the pretext that there was a correction
that needed to be done,” a source said.
“Ironically, VP Mphoko’s letter was not withdrawn and this
forced Mnangagwa’s people to make frantic follow-ups, including sending his
secretary, a Ms Magaya, to party (Zanu PF) headquarters. Magaya had an
altercation with Tongai Kasukuwere (youth league secretary for finance), who
had been assigned to make sure there would be no invite to Mnangagwa. The
letter was, however, released.”
Kasukuwere refused to comment.
“I do not comment on party issues. Talk to the
spokesperson,” he said.
It has also been revealed that a hastily arranged Press
briefing, at which Mnangagwa was to be denounced, was called off after only
three provincial chairpersons Manicaland (Mubuso Chinguno), Harare (Edison
Takataka) and Mashonaland Central (Isaiah Mandaza) agreed to the plan. Newsday
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