First Lady Grace Mugabe says Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa would be in prison if he was in any nation as there are reports that he wants to stage a coup in Zimbabwe.
She said there is no reason for Mnangagwa to continue plotting to wrestle power from President Mugabe, whom she described as a clean and decent man.
“We must all agree when the president decides one day says he is leaving office … We must all agree as the party about who will take over. Not pointing guns at each other … bazookas … No.
“We are being threatened day and night that when someone comes into power we are going to kill you. Ah! Ahh! We will not bow down to that pressure. Never. You will have to arrest all of us and lock all of us in jail so that you can rule (Zimbabwe). Who says everyone wants to rule? And there is an issue that someone is holding a gun on his hand and fighting alone, we don’t want to hear all that.”
She said people sacrificed their lives to have a free Zimbabwe and not intimidation. “We all want to be free. This is a free Zimbabwe. We don’t want people who intimidate us. The president advised me to sleep with one eye open but I won’t do that because I have got my own spies who will inform me of the goings-on as they appreciate me ...”
Mrs. Mugabe noted people are not forced to like politicians. “If they don’t want you, they don’t want you. Period. You tell people that I will be with so and so (when in power) … No one recognizes coups, you know it. The AU (African Union does not recognize coups and SADC (Southern African Development Community) does not recognize coups. And don’t even dare talk about it because it’s treason.
“You are just being left scot free because you know that it’s Mugabe who is in power and he is very kind. If it was another country, you will be in jail. We must be grateful that we have a tolerant leader and don’t take that tolerance too far but you continue to abuse the president.”
She said Mnangagwa is always flip flopping on his poisoning saga in Gwanda, Matabeleland South province, where he fell ill while attending a so-called Youth Interface Rally.
At the weekend he told people attending a memorial service of the late Resident Minister Shuvai Mahofa that he was poisoned at the rally contrary to what was conveyed to Mr. Mugabe by Mnangagwa’s doctors after he underwent medical attention in South Africa.
“You tell the president this story today and tomorrow you tell him another story which is contrary to what you initially told him. You think he is a fool? OK, let’s wait and stop here,” she said amid applause from youths and other Zanu PF activists attending a youth meeting in Harare on Thursday night.
Mnangagwa is said to be leading a Zanu PF faction said to be pushing him to succeed 93 year-old Mugabe.