President Robert Mugabe’s refusal to listen to demands by
the army to rein in his wife, who openly attacked the security forces,
eventually led to his downfall, sources have revealed.
Grace accused the army of trying to grab power on behalf of
former vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa and even plotting to kill her children
as far back as last year.
As late as a week ago, Mugabe was given a seven-day
ultimatum by Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Constantino Chiwenga to stop the
purging of Mnangagwa’s supporters, the majority of them war veterans, sources
said.
The 93-year-old did not only ignore the ultimatum, but also
went on to fire Mnangagwa, triggering a chain of events that eventually led to
him being put under house arrest last Wednesday.
Sources said army commanders were not happy with the
increasing overbearing influence of the G40 faction fronted by Grace whom they
regarded as an “ambitious political novice”.
“The rift dates back to February 2016, but the president
was misled by loyalty from the army generals,” a source said. “Chiwenga had so much respect for the president but it is
unfortunate that the old man did not reciprocate the same to his generals.
“He viewed their loyalty as being dull and it has come to
haunt him today.” The sources said seven days before Mugabe fired Mnangagwa,
Chiwenga warned him to stop the purges.
“The tiff could be traced back to February 2016 when the
military raised a red flag with Mugabe over the behaviour of his wife following
her utterances at a rally in Chiweshe where she accused the army of plotting to
bomb her dairy and kill her children,” the source added.
“The president was warned then that he must restrain his
wife at a meeting held at State House in February “Commanders felt that she was belittling them but the
president did nothing. it seems he took the soldiers for fools”.
In October, at a rally at Sakubva Stadium in Mutare, Grace
said she was not afraid of being shot by the army and again this infuriated the
commanders.
While opening the Empowerment Bank the same month, the
first lady alleged that Mugabe had been threatened with death if a certain
person did not succeed him.
She alleged the army was plotting a coup, and the commanders
were not amused.
Her campaign against Mnangagwa and the military escalated
ahead of the party’s extraordinary congress slated for December, where she led
a push for the former vice-president to be dismissed from both the government
and Zanu PF.
Mugabe obliged and sent Mnangagwa packing. A number of war
veterans in government were also targeted for purging.
Besides his wife’s behaviour, the army was not happy that
Mugabe did not reprimand Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo,
who had a go at Chiwenga early this year.
“The failure by the president to stop Moyo from attacking
his army made it worse as the generals felt the president had sanctioned the
attacks,” another source said.
“In politics, any president is as weak as the strength of
the military as well as the respect accorded to them.
“If an army commander is attacked easily by a minister and
the commander in chief fails to rein him in, it means the next target would be
the entire force and the president failed to deal with this.”
Moyo’s constant attacks against command agriculture, which
was championed by Air Force of Zimbabwe Commander Air Marshal Perrence Shiri
and other generals, also angered the army.
Sources said Mugabe was briefed frequently but he did
nothing, forcing the army to take drastic measures against him and his allies —
most of whom are G40 faction members.
“There have been attacks on the army by [Patrick] Zhuwao
who is Mugabe’s nephew and his uncle did not reprimand him,” a source added.
“One wonders if the president still needed the army or he
was safe with his wife and G40 supporters.
“If any president loses the army, he would have lost his
last line of defence.”
Mugabe, the sources said, was also trying to fire Chiwenga
before attempts to arrest him last week.
“He had approached a number of generals to take over as
commander of the defence forces and he had engaged police commissioner general
[Augustine] Chihuri to arrest CDF for supporting Mnangagwa and standing against
the vilification of war veterans,” a source said.
Mugabe did not respond directly to a statement by Chiwenga
warning him to stop the purges and sent Zanu PF youth league secretary
Kudzanayi Chipanga to chastise Chiwenga.
However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was Zanu PF
spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo’s stinging statement accusing Chiwenga of treason.
Yesterday, sources said, Mugabe had realised that his time
was up and was now pleading that the safety of his family be guaranteed and
that he be given an opportunity to address Zanu PF supporters before he throws
in the towel. Standard
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