After a 37-year-long rule in Zimbabwe‚ former president
Robert Mugabe is upset that the administration of his protégé‚ Emmerson Mnangagwa‚
has not yet paid him his pension‚ which he said amounted to a paltry $467‚000.
Mugabe told journalists invited to his palatial mansion‚
Blue Roof‚ in Harare that reports that he had been paid a $10-million windfall
after his fall from power last November were not true.
“So after I had resigned‚ I had to go to the pension office
to say ‘what am I entitled to?’. And they said ‘okay‚ we will tell you what
your entitlements are and the amount is a total of $467‚000. Yes‚ can you
imagine‚ that was the total amount. Some people are talking about $10-million
and you are entitled to two houses‚ one here‚ one elsewhere‚” said Mugabe.
His comments take a dig at the claim by Mnangagwa that the
former ruler had been given a big retirement package. Mnangagwa has often
claimed that Mugabe had received the “best” in terms of a retirement package‚
which includes a salary equivalent to that of a sitting president‚ medical aid
an official home and staff whose upkeep is also paid for by the state among
other things.
Mugabe also said that he wanted his wife‚ Grace‚ to be left
alone and not continuously harassed by the state.
But the bulk of his two-hour long missive was a hint at
that he would vote for opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa on Monday
because ZANU-PF had caused him too much pain.
Against a backdrop of a small lake on the grounds of his
home‚ Mugabe denounced Zanu-PF‚ a party of which he is regarded as one of the
founding fathers.
“I cannot vote for those who had reduced me to this
condition‚” he said‚ referring to the coup d’etat in November which saw him
replaced by former deputy president Mnangagwa. times
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