The health of President Robert Mugabe is tanking failing and he is positioning his favourite, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to take over, according to sources in Zim-Bob-We. The 79-year-old president’s health is said to have been deteriorating for several months, but speculation increased after reports that he collapsed at the weekend after attending a relative’s wedding in southern Zimbabwe.
| Got the death ray set just right... |
Senior sources in Zanu-PF and his spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) admitted that Mr Mugabe had recently suffered a minor stroke but said he had recovered after being treated by Chinese doctors. They said the president regularly showed signs of stress and symptoms of instability epilepsy, which had caused him to collapse several times before. "If it had been easy for him to impose Mnangagwa as his successor, I believe he might already have left," said one source in the ruling Zanu-PF party. "His greatest headache at the moment is to prepare the groundwork for the whole party to accept Mnangagwa before he quits."
Bob wants him to cover his back as he leaves town.
A senior Zanu-PF official who asked not to be named said: "I don’t think anyone, perhaps with the exception of his wife, can specify his exact medical problem, because I don’t believe he shows his medical records to anyone. But he regularly shows signs that he is nibbling the dust not well."
Hurry, please.
The sources said the president accepted that his age and poor health prevented him functioning carrying on, and that his efforts were now concentrated on ensuring the succession of Mr Mnangagwa, who is the Speaker in Zimbabwe’s parliament. Mr Mugabe regards Mr Mnangagwa as his best insurance policy against future prosecution.
| What's he have to worry about prosecution for? He's gonna be dead! |
As minister in charge of the CIO, he was a central figure when the regime eliminated an estimated 30,000 opponents in the early 1980s.
"eliminated", such a PC friendly word for murder.
The president saved the hugely unpopular Mr Mnangagwa from political obscurity after he lost his parliamentary seat to an unknown opposition candidate in the June 2000 elections.
| Ah, yes. The "Anybody but Emerson" vote... |
After another seat was found for him, he was appointed parliamentary Speaker and elevated to the powerful post of Zanu-PF’s secretary of administration, which in effect put him in charge of the day-to-day running of the party. Mr Mnangagwa has been using the two positions to try to improve his standing in the party and entrench his status as "heir apparent" by purging opponents. "No one wants to cross his path at the moment," said a party official.
Bob better not wait too long, when E.M. feels ready, Bob may have one of those "I’ve fallen and I can’t get up" moments.
| Wonder if that's what happened over the weekend? |
Reports that Mr Mugabe had been flown to South Africa for medical treatment have been denied by sources in Zimbabwe, which pointed out that the president was deeply suspicious of white South Africans in general and Zimbabwean exiles in particular.
| "Emerson! Don't let them get me!" |
One of his main criticisms of his South African counterpart, Thabo Mbeki, they said, was that he was "too soft" on white people, allowing them too much sway in state institutions and in the running of the economy.
I hear Mbeki is working on that. |