Joice Mujuru: Claim I wanted to eliminate Mugabe is a bunch of lies to malign my name

What you need to know:

  • Mujuru reveals that she is fearing for her life following accusations that she wanted to kill the President
  • Mugabe expected meet members of the Zanu PF central committee to unveil two new vice-presidents and his party’s new look politburo after he failed to do so at the congress.
  • Mugabe accused the vice-president of working with Western governments and the opposition to topple him.

Zimbabwe Vice-President Joice Mujuru on Tuesday dismissed President Robert Mugabe’s claims that she was plotting to kill him as ‘ridiculous’ as she revealed that she feared for her life following the accusations.

President Mugabe at the weekend told his ruling Zanu PF party congress that the under-fire Mujuru consulted doctors in a bid to eliminate him.

He said Zimbabwe’s first female vice president had expelled herself from the ruling party and the government by boycotting the congress.

State media on Tuesday said Energy Minister Dzikamai Mavhaire and his deputy Munacho Mutezo had been fired after they were linked to a plot to use public funds to prop up Ms Mujuru.

However, in a statement published by the private media, Ms Mujuru said she did not attend the congress because she feared for her life.

“I decided to stay away from the inevitable public humiliation as was meted out to the other unfortunate members of the party,” Ms Mujuru said.

“I made my fears known to the party leadership. It was important to maintain the dignity of the office of the vice-president even in the face of such unwarranted violence by a section of the party’s membership.”

President Mugabe accused the vice-president of working with Western governments and the opposition to topple him.

In a bizarre twist to the saga that was triggered by First Lady Grace Mugabe’s public comments in October, Mr Mugabe said Ms Mujuru enlisted the services of witchdoctors and religious sects to eliminate him.

However, the vice-president said she was a God-fearing woman who did not need the assistance of the occult to win power.

“As a law abiding citizen of Zimbabwe, I abhor the very notion that an elected president or government of the day can be removed from office through wrongful or unlawful means,” she said.

“The allegations that I, alone, or (together with various distinguished comrades) have sought to or attempted to remove his Excellency Robert Gabriel Mugabe from office are ridiculous.”

The statement, the second in as many months, is not likely to change President Mugabe’s mind to relieve Ms Mujuru and other Cabinet ministers of their duties for the alleged plot.

State media on Tuesday reported that the 90-year-old would reshuffle his Cabinet. On Wednesday, he is expected meet members of the Zanu PF central committee to unveil two new vice-presidents and his party’s new look politburo after he failed to do so at the congress.
Ms Mujuru said she was being victimised after exposing infiltrators conspiring to destroy the party, which has ruled the country since independence in 1980.
“I have become the fly in the web of lies whose final objective is the destruction of Zanu-PF and what it stands for and ultimately the present government,” she said in a statement.

PORTRAY ME AS A TRAITOR

“A vociferous attempt has been made to portray me as ‘a traitor,’ ‘murderer’ and ‘sell-out’ yet no iota of evidence has been produced to give credence to the allegations.”

In the lead-up to the congress, Ms Mujuru came under attack after Mrs Mugabe claimed the vice president was extorting money from companies and that she was fomenting factionalism.

She claimed Ms Mujuru was incompetent and that Mugabe was doing the bulk of her work.

The ruling party has been riven by factionalism over Mr Mugabe’s succession although in the past party leaders have papered over the cracks.

Ms Mujuru and powerful Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa — who in the past controlled the secret police and military — were seen as the leading contenders to replace Mr Mugabe.

Now with Mujuru apparently out of the succession race, all eyes are on the 68-year-old Mnangagwa who was named to the party’s central committee.