Former president Robert Mugabe on Sunday opened up about his ouster last year by the army, disclosing for the first time that some people were allegedly killed and others tortured as the 94-year-old politician piled up pressure on his successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
According allfrica.com news, Mugabe told close relatives and friends at a private birthday party at his Harare mansion, known as Blue Roof, that the army chose to side with Mnangagwa in what was essentially a Zanu PF dispute.
He disclosed that Mnangagwa had called him yesterday requesting that they meet urgently to discuss his situation but the deposed Zanu PF leader vowed to tell it as it is. This will be the first meeting between the two since Mugabe’s ouster.
Before narrating events leading to the dramatic military takeover on November 15 and his life after leaving office, Mugabe asked “the weak” to leave the venue as he was about to give graphic details of the fierce power struggles.
“Those who are afraid please leave. This is an important issue and I will not mince my words,” the former Zanu PF leader said.
He said Mnangagwa wanted to meet him on his return from a state visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
It was not immediately clear when the president will leave for the DRC.
“He told me this morning that he was going to the DRC where he has been invited by (President Joseph) Kabila, the son of the late leader Laurent Kabila,” he said.
He requested for a meeting and said he will bring along other leaders so that we could talk.
“I said well, you can come. And he said he will do so when he returns from the DRC,” added Mugabe.
Mugabe promised not to hold back during the meeting with Mnangagwa, saying the new rulers need to know that the takeover of power with the help of the military was illegal and detrimental to democracy.
“I will tell them the truth that what you did was illegal. You abused the people, beat up people,” he told the crowd that was stunned into silence. I know you were told not to talk about this, but I will say it because it is the truth.
“People were injured, some were killed. They came here with bruises; some with their heads injured, and told us that some of them had been killed. I will tell them the truth,” he said.
He said Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, who was the army commander at the time, took sides with Mnangagwa in the Zanu PF factional wars and “rolled out tanks against the people.”
“Because we had a misunderstanding with one of my vice-presidents, Emmerson, the army with Chiwenga decided to take out tanks into the streets. This is not what we fought for,” he charged.
Mugabe said during the negotiations with the military commanders after they had placed him under house arrest, they claimed that people were on the streets demanding his ouster.
