FORMER president Robert Mugabe (pictured) has accused
several of his former Zanu PF lieutenants of betraying him in his hour of need
and launched a fresh attack on President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy
Constantino Chiwenga for his role in his removal from power, the Zimbabwe
Independent can reveal.
Mugabe, who is still bitter about his overthrow in November
last year, met with former Mashonaland East governor and Zanu PF regional
chairman Ray Kaukonde at his “Blue Roof” mansion in Harare’s leafy Borrowdale
suburb last week on Wednesday, where he poured his heart out once more. He
singled out Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu, Zanu PF’s
secretary of finance Patrick Chinamasa, and Speaker of the National Assembly
Jacob Mudenda as sellouts and did not seem keen on forgiving the trio.
According to reliable sources, during the meeting, Mugabe
apologised to Kaukonde for hounding him out of the party in 2014 at the same
time and attacked Mnangagwa and Chiwenga, accusing them of sedition. Chiwenga
was at the forefront of the November 2017 coup that dethroned Mugabe when he
was commander of the armed forces, to Mnangagwa’s benefit.
A strangely repentant Mugabe, sources said, requested to
meet with Kaukonde where he told him he regretted axing him from the party at
the height of the purges of former vice-president Joice Mujuru’s allies in the
run-up to the 2014 Zanu PF congress. However, typical of Mugabe, he did not
accept responsibility for the purges as he claimed to have been influenced by
unnamed senior Zanu PF officials who were fighting a terminal factional and
succession war at the time, chaperoned by Mnangagwa, then justice minister.
In February, Mugabe also met with Mujuru and apologised for
her ouster in Zanu PF. Sources say Mugabe also wanted Kaukonde to mediate
between him and Mujuru so that he could render support to his former deputy who
is one of the 23 presidential candidates eyeing the presidency.
Mujuru, who leads her own National People’s Party (NPP), is
representing the Rainbow Coalition — a cocktail of parties challenging Zanu PF
in the elections. According to sources, Mugabe said he felt the need to
apologise to Kaukonde, who was booted out of Zanu PF in humiliating fashion
after Mugabe’s wife Grace led a crusade against Mujuru and her backers, seen as
the stumbling block to her rise to power.
“During the meeting, Mugabe apologised for removing him
from the party for siding with Mujuru. He said he felt he needed to do so after
having apologised to Mujuru. He said his decisions were influenced by ED
(Mnangagwa’s initials) and Chiwenga. He actually said Chiwenga came in his
military fatigues and sat in the chair behind him with a long military-style
dagger and insisted that Mujuru and her allies should be removed from the
party. He said he feared the long knife, something which Kaukonde appeared to
disbelieve,” a source said.
The source said Kaukonde later confided in his friends that
he had no problem forgiving Mugabe, but it would take a lot more for him to
forgive Grace. According to the source, Mugabe then went on to outline the
personal sense of betrayal that clearly still pre-occupies him while also
devoting a generous amount of time to narrate his enduring sense of victimhood.
Mugabe is said to have branded Mnangagwa and Chiwenga as
the two biggest traitors and his arch-enemies who conspired to wrest the
presidency away from him after he had kept firm claws on power for a staggering
37 years.
“He had no kind words for those two. He blamed them for
everything that has happened to him and kept referring to them as traitors,”
the source said.
Early this year, Mugabe described Mnangagwa as an “illegal
and illegitimate president” who rose to power through the barrel of the gun and
yearned for assistance from the African Union to restore his presidency. Mugabe
apparently does not attach much value to his resignation on November 21 last
year, which he tendered under immense pressure from the army and following
demonstrations that rocked the country.
His party, Zanu PF, had also recalled him while parliament
had initiated the process of impeaching him. In addition to Mnangagwa and
Chiwenga, Mugabe also told Kaukonde that he felt betrayed by Mpofu, Chinamasa
and Mudenda.
“He felt that Mudenda had sold him out when he agreed to
preside over the process to impeach him on November 21 last year. Mpofu led the
process of recalling him as the Zanu PF president and first secretary while
Chinamasa’s sin was that he provided the legal perspectives which the party
took in dealing with him. He has not forgiven all of them,” the source further
said.
Mugabe also took a swipe at former defence minister Sydney
Sekeramayi, describing him as “a spineless lame duck that could not stand for
what he believed in”. During the vicious factional war between Mnangagwa’s Team
Lacoste faction and the Generation 40 faction led by Grace, Sekeramayi had been
touted as the potential successor to Mugabe. However, when his former master
was being toppled, he opted for safety and found himself participating in
events that led to his political demise. Mugabe told Kaukonde, who comes from
the same Mashonaland East province as Sekeramayi, that he was disappointed that
Sekeramayi had never bothered to reach out to him since the November coup.
Sekeramayi is currently campaigning heavily for Mnangagwa
and Zanu PF in his home province despite having been sidelined for cabinet and
politburo appointments by Mnangagwa.
Mugabe then turned his attention to former foreign affairs
minister Walter Mzembi, describing him as a very loyal and respectful man who
stood by him throughout the coup period.
“He (Mugabe) said Mzembi was loyal and trustworthy.
Apparently, Mzembi was hiding somewhere and kept Mugabe well-informed about
what was happening during the Operation (Restore Legacy) and so he earned
Mugabe’s respect,” the source said.
On the advent of the coup, Mzembi also apparently wrote a
letter to Southern African Development Community (Sadc) executive secretary
Stergomena Lawrence Tax in his capacity as foreign affairs minister, appealing
for the regional bloc’s urgent intervention to stop the coup, but to no avail.
Mugabe told Kaukonde that he felt betrayed by Sadc regional leaders who did not
even attempt to save him. He, however, singled out Zambian President Edgar
Lungu, whom he said had expressed willingness to intervene, but feared he had
no capacity to confront the Zimbabwean military alone. Mugabe also said that
the only Sadc country which had the capacity to avert the coup was South
Africa, but its president at the time, Jacob Zuma, was not interested in
helping.
Throughout the conversation, the source said, Grace sat on
the armrest of Mugabe’s chair, making frequent interjections.
Kaukonde is said to have agreed to forgive Mugabe given the
former president’s advanced age, but remained sceptical whether the ex-Zanu PF
leader meant his words. Contacted for comment Kaukonde said: “I took a
sabbatical from politics and you are hounding me. I am at the farm and not
involved in politics. Who was there when that happened? Where do you people get
such kind of things? I do not want to be involved in politics now. I made a
decision to walk away, so please leave me alone,” he said.
Mzembi was also not reachable as he was said to be
currently outside the country. Zimbabwe
Independent
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