Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe fired his deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa for being disloyal, disrespectful, deceitful, and unreliable in a statement issued by Information Minister Simon Khaya Moyo on November 6.
Mnangagwa has been Mugabe’s right-hand man for over 40 years and was appointed VP in 2014 after Joice Mujuru was fired from the same position at the instigation of Mugabe’s wife Grace.
Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe accused the now-former VP Mnangagwa of factionalism and plotting a coup to remove her 93-year-old husband while speaking at a Super Sunday Rally at Rufaro Stadium in Harare on November 5.
Mugabe, 93 is the world’s oldest head of state who has been in power since 1980 but still insists he will contest as Zanu PF’s candidate in Zimbabwe’s 2018 presidential elections.
The firing of VP Mnangagwa leaves Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe with a clear path to realizing her ambitions to succeed President Mugabe aided by Zanu PF’s G4O faction which includes Jonathan Moto, Patrick Zhuwao, and Saviour Kasukuwere.
Is this the end for Mnangagwa’s Lacoste faction in Zanu PF? Is this the end of Mnangagwa’s presidential ambitions? Will Mugabe appoint Grace Mugabe as his successor? Will Mnangagwa form a new party to challenge Mugabe? This and more will be revealed by Father Time.
Press statement by Zimbabwe’s Information Minister Simon Khaya Moyo firing Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa
The former VP Mnangagwa’s staff was seen clearing his office around 4 pm after he was fired by President Mnangagwa.
