Following the plotted assassination of President Robert Mugabe, there are calls for Zimbabwe’s vice President Joice Mujuru to resign.
Mujuru, who was once tipped to succeed the veteran ruler, has denied the claims, describing them as an attempt to remove her unconstitutionally.
Zimbabwe first lady, Grace Mugabe, says it is shocking that someone who has been vice president for 10 years is at the centre of this. The first lady says Mujuru must go, forthwith.
The allegations which began with that of corruption and incompetence have culminated in a claim of treason by association against the embattled Mujuru. At the recent politburo meeting, President Mugabe is said to have revealed that he heard recordings of senior party leaders aligned to Mujuru plotting to hire South African and Israeli hitmen to kill him.
At 90, Mugabe is heading to what could be his final congress in the next fortnight and appears desperate to cling onto power. In the last three weeks, eight of the party’s 10 provincial chairs have been voted out and replaced with alleged Mugabe sympathisers.
However, the newly-appointed war veterans’ chairperson, Chris Mutsvangwa, denies that it’s a purge, “What Mujuru did was a sordid act by someone who was in a position of trust and confidence to her superiors and paid back in a negative manner”, Mutsvangwa says.
Meanwhile, Mujuru has refused to resign, saying she is prepared to go to the courts to defend her.