{"id":369679,"date":"2017-11-09T07:11:18","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T07:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=369679"},"modified":"2017-11-09T07:11:18","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T07:11:18","slug":"zimbabwes-sacked-vice-president-mnangagwa-flees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/zimbabwes-sacked-vice-president-mnangagwa-flees\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe’s sacked Vice-President Mnangagwa flees"},"content":{"rendered":"
Zimbabwe’s former Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was sacked on Monday, has fled the country amid death threats, his allies say.<\/p>\n
President Robert Mugabe, 93, accuses his former deputy of plotting to take power from him.<\/p>\n
“He went to apostolic church prophets to find out when Mugabe would die. But he was told he would die first,” Mr Mugabe told supporters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
First Lady Grace Mugabe is now the favourite to succeed her husband.<\/p>\n
Mrs Mugabe had been pushing for the removal of the vice-president, referring to him as a snake that “must be hit on the head.”<\/p>\n
She is now expected to be appointed vice-president at a special congress of the ruling Zanu-PF party next month.<\/p>\n
Zanu-PF expelled Mr Mnangagwa from the party on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Mr Mugabe called his former deputy a conspirator and warned that he was planning to purge others in the party.<\/p>\n
“We knew a long time ago what he [Mnangagwa] was like. But we tried to shield you from it. He thought that by being close to me, I would carry him on my back to the presidency. But I didn’t die, I didn’t resign,” he told his supporters at the headquarters of Zanu-PF in Harare.<\/p>\n
“We hope we can deal with others who were conspirators alongside him,” he added.<\/p>\n