Zimbabwe: Mugabe Was ‘Devastated’ By Chiwenga’s Illness After 2017 Ouster – Former Spokesperson
Discover moreePaper subscriptionsMobile news app subscriptionCyber assurance solutionsIn the aftermath of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s role in leading the military transition that ousted then-President Robert Mugabe, the longtime ruler reportedly harboured no ill will toward him.
This was revealed by former Mugabe ally and now-defunct National Patriotic Front spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire, who described Mugabe as deeply emotional during Chiwenga’s illness months after the ouster.
Mawarire said Mugabe “wept” for Chiwenga when the former military commander spent months abroad battling an oesophageal disease.
“President Mugabe was devastated when people who prematurely celebrated the demise of Gen Chiwenga started circulating messages suggesting his illness was terminal,” said Mawarire.
“Yes, the old man, sick as he was, wept and shed tears for the man he believed was not supposed to die, as he still had a huge role to play in the governance of the country.”
Following Mugabe’s removal from power in November 2017, Chiwenga spent several months in China receiving treatment for what he later described as idiopathic oesophageal stricture.
Despite publicly distancing himself from his former ZANU PF colleagues and the government after his fall from power, Mugabe later made a surprising political move ahead of the 2018 general elections by backing opposition leader Nelson Chamisa against his successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
According to Mawarire, Mugabe maintained a close affinity with Chiwenga, whom he viewed as instrumental to Zimbabwe’s future.
“In his own words, the old man said, ‘Gen Chiwenga cannot die now; he has a huge part to play for the good of this country,”‘ Mawarire said.
“President Mugabe had trust in Gen Chiwenga taking this country forward, and news that he was gravely ill with slim chances of survival devastated him.”
“He cried and shed tears for the General, for a comrade, for an in-law, for a good human being, and for a fellow Zimbabwean.”
“We are all glad his prayers, and the prayers of many other Zimbabweans who stood with the General, were answered. God had a plan with him–He still does. Time will tell.”
By New Zimbabwe.
