The Catholic priest who negotiated former president Robert Mugabe’s exit had no kind words for his wife Grace and blamed her for Mugabe’s demise.
Father Fidelis Mukonori told the Jesuit Review that Grace Mugabe’s greed for power was a serious contributor to her husband’s political demise.
He therefore did not believe that she would have any future after her husband dies.
“I’m sure that people would do justice to her,” he said.
Father Mukonori said factional battles that led to the firing of Emmerson Mnangagwa so that Grace could succeed him “broke the camel’s back”.
The problem, he said, was: “Political debauchery… political division… slicing each other’s character… trying to position each other for power.”
Grace Mugabe publicly humiliated senior party and government officials at rallies as she sought to position herself to succeed her husband egged on by the G40 cabal led by Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere.
Mnangagwa said on Friday that the military had to intervene because “the party ideology, rules and protocols were being desecrated daily; or simply being brushed aside at will”.
“Party structures were overrun, while elected office bearers were summarily suspended and dismissed at speeds of caprice and vaulting ambition.
“Corrupt activities and corrupt individuals were being daily sanitised while millions were being stolen and stashed out of the country.”
Mnangagwa who paid homage to Mugabe, indicating that he still had great respect for the 93-year-old former leader, said party events where manipulated and re-engineered with party mobilisation reduced to coercion.
“Party rallies became expensively choreographed pseudo-events dominated by a roving core group which used different venues in order to create an misleading illusion of populism which belied the bitter discontent which simmered beneath, threatening to boil over,” he said.
It boiled over after Mnangagwa was dismissed from the government on 6 November with the military stepping in on 15 November and Mugabe being forced to resign on 21 November.
Mugabe is currently in the Far East and underwent a medical check-up on Friday.
Grace was not by his side when he left the hospital.
Observers say one of the reasons why Grace Mugabe wanted to become president was that she knew no one would protect her once her husband was gone. – Insider
