Source: Grace fired me: ED – DailyNews Live
Tendai Kamhungira 19 June 2018
HARARE – Preisdent Emmerson Mnangagwa has said he was sacked as the
country’s vice president last year by Grace Mugabe, using her influence on
former president Robert Mugabe, whom he said was no longer in a position
to lead the country.
Mnangagwa revealed this in a High Court application in which he challenged
and sought nullification of his sacking from government last November.
High Court judge George Chiweshe has since nullified Mnangagwa’s sacking
in a ruling handed down on November 24, last year, the day that Mnangagwa
was inaugurated as the country’s president.
“The purported dismissal was unlawful and unconstitutional on two fronts.
To begin with, I was not purportedly dismissed at the pleasure of Robert
Gabriel Mugabe. It was at the pleasure and instigation of Grace Mugabe and
G40, a faction within Zanu PF, that was fanning divisions and hate within
the party and was controlling business of government and influencing ….
Mugabe to act as they wished,” Mnangagwa said.
He said even though he served at the pleasure of Mugabe that did not put
the former president’s actions beyond judicial review.
“That would make him a demigod who is beyond the reach of the
Constitution, which he is bound to uphold. The second basis upon which the
dismissal is void is that it was not actuated by …Mugabe. It was
actuated by Grace Mugabe, to whom he had unconstitutionally abdicated his
responsibilities,” he said.
He said a few months before his sacking he had been vilified, demonised
and reduced to nothing during rallies, addressed by Grace, who made public
pronouncements that she was going to drop him from government.
“There has been numerous attempts on my life which manifested in the
following: the placement of cyanide in my office, which resulted in the
hospitalisation of my secretary, there have been several break-ins into my
offices, I was poisoned on August 12, 2017, the day of the Gwanda youth
interface rally, which resulted in my being air-lifted to South Africa for
medical treatment, the medical results of which are now out and can be
made available. The results are positive that I was poisoned,” he said.
He said his purported dismissal from office by Mugabe, was of no legal
effect.
In the application, Mnangagwa cited the acting president of Zimbabwe and
the Attorney General of Zimbabwe Prince Machaya, as first and second
respondents respectively.
“… Mugabe resigned from the position of president of Zimbabwe on 21
November 2017, just before he could be impeached by Parliament. I,
therefore, could not cite him in these proceedings. I hasten to say that,
my purported dismissal is void, on the basis that it has no constitutional
or legal foundation. It is a legal and constitutional nullity…,”
Mnangagwa said.
In the application, Mnangagwa alluded to the fact that he was a veteran of
the liberation struggle and held various portfolios since the country got
its independence in 1980.
He accused Mugabe of abdicating on his duties by allowing his wife Grace
to take over the functions of the president and Cabinet.
“In terms of Section 88 of the Constitution, executive authority is
derived from the people and must be exercised in terms of the
Constitution, and that executive authority (was) vested in Robert Gabriel
Mugabe, who exercised it through Cabinet.
“Powers of government are exercised by the president and Cabinet, in terms
of Section 110 of the Constitution. Grace Mugabe was not a member of
Cabinet. She had no executive authority and should not have purported to
utilise the powers of Robert Gabriel Mugabe,” he said.
Chiweshe granted the order by consent, declaring Mnangagwa’s dismissal a
nullity.
“It is ordered by consent that: the dismissal of the applicant by
…Mugabe, the then president of Zimbabwe from the office of the vice
president of Zimbabwe, on November 6, 2017, is null and void and
accordingly, of no force or effect,” Chiweshe said.
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