MDC OFFICIAL BACKS MNANGAGWA

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is facing an uncertain political future, has received backing from the unlikeliest source, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s top advisor Jameson Timba — a former Cabinet minister — wrote on his Facebook page that the vice president has a well thought response in the unfolding poisoning saga.

“I have no brief for him. I disagree with him politically. But give it to...Mnangagwa. He made his opponents including the learned... Jonathan Moyo look like fools. He said he was not food poisoned. Which is a fact. But he was poisoned, which is another fact but a different one. Mugabe confirmed that his doctors said he was not food poisoned but was poisoned because he had traces of poison in his blood. Which is a fact.

“He said what happened to him is what happened to (the late Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Shuvai) Mahofa.


“Mahofa fell ill at a Zanu PF gathering in Victoria Falls and was airlifted to somewhere in Zimbabwe and subsequently to South Africa. He fell ill at a Zanu PF gathering in Gwanda and was airlifted to Gweru and subsequently to SA-hence the similarities.

“So ED (Mnangagwa) has been consistent with his story and his internal opponents have been duped by a smart talking lawyer and they are all over saying he is contradicting himself when it is them who are failing to read and understand simple english,” said Timba.
Mnangagwa said late on Thursday he had been hospitalised in August because he had been poisoned, but did not say who did it and his main rival First Lady Grace Mugabe, swiftly denied having anything to do with it.

On August 12, Mnangagwa suddenly fell ill at a Zanu PF rally in Gwanda, vomiting and suffering diarrhea, which saw him being airlifted to South Africa for emergency surgery.
Writing in on his blog, a former advisor to Tsvangirai, academic Alex Magaisa, said there is no contradiction between what Mugabe said and what was said by his deputy.

“The tiff between the two vice presidents revolves around the issue of whether Mnangagwa was poisoned. Mnangagwa insists that he was poisoned,” Magaisa said. “Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko accuses Mnangagwa of lying and undermining Mugabe on the grounds that he allegedly contradicted Mugabe’s statement on the poisoning. But is there a contradiction at all between Mugabe and Mnangagwa? To be sure, there is no obvious contradiction.”

Magaisa, like Timba, said Mnangagwa has been sticking to what could possibly be facts but only that the VP muddied the waters by speaking in riddles.

“In Gweru, while Mugabe confirmed that food poisoning had been ruled out by the doctors, he did not completely rule out poisoning.

“Food poisoning is only a type of poisoning. He said that investigations were still continuing to discover what exactly had happened to his subordinate,” Magaisa said.

“Therefore, when Mnangagwa confirms that he was poisoned, it is probably because he is now in possession of facts which confirm that he was poisoned, following the investigations.  Daily News

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