Mujuru told envoys Mugabe now senile

via Mujuru told envoys Mugabe now senile 02/12/2014

VICE President Joice Mujuru and “her cabal” had virtually hijacked foreign diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe, Junior Foreign Affairs Minister Christopher Mutsvangwa said on Tuesday.

Mutsvangwa told New Zimbabwe.com in an interview that Mujuru and top members of the faction she allegedly leads had for a long time been misleading foreign mission in Harare that President Robert Mugabe “is senile and does not comprehend issues any longer”.

“We now gather that Mujuru and her group had been telling foreign diplomats that the Vice President is a moderate who is willing to deal with the West,” said Mutsvangwa.

“They were being fed all sorts of lies including claims that Mugabe is surrounded by hardliners like (Justice Minister Emmerson) Mnangagwa and others who would want to continue with the stand-off.

“We had to demystify that and ask them (ambassadors) to give the likes of Mnangagwa, and even the President, a chance”.

Mutsvangwa said before he joined government as junior minister of foreign affairs he had been working hard to mend relations with the West and organised Mugabe’s meeting with US congressman Andre Young.

“I organised that meeting even before I joined government as a deputy minister,” he said.

“I was working to make sure our relations with the rest of the world are resuscitated and in order to remove the myth built by Mujuru and her allies around the President, which is that of an angry and hard man.

“I was also the one who organised the meeting between the President and former United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray.

“All these people, among others, later realised that they had been led up the garden path; that they were being held in captivity and being sold a dummy by a corrupt cabal led by Mujuru.”

Mutsvangwa along with First Lady Grace Mugabe led the assault of Mujuru as Zanu PF hurtled towards its elective congress in the past few months.

The deputy foreign minister cast aspersions on Mujuru’s liberation war credentials and had a public spat with his boss at the ministry Simbarashe Mumbengegwi who is one of the cabinet minister identified as having been working with Mujuru to topple Mugabe.

While Mujuru has denied all the allegations levelled against her among them corruption, nepotism, abuse of office and outright treason, Mugabe, on Tuesday seemed to confirm he had been aware that Mujuru was part of an elaborate and sinister plot to “take him out” violently.