VP Emmerson Mnangagwa will not be pressured to quit his government or party positions, but instead will continue to serve under President Robert Mugabe, family sources said yesterday.
Another source close to Mnangagwa said quitting was not an option and instead his team would begin a series of public pronouncements to rebut all the allegations, which have been made against him.
“What you are going to see after the United Nations summit is Mnangagwa responding to all the allegations that have been made against him and setting the record straight,” a source said.
“He is not worried because all the allegations so far raised against his person are false and of no substance.”
A family source, speaking on condition he was not named, said Mnangagwa was not going to succumb to pressure from G40, a faction opposed to the Vice-President’s ascendancy.
“We are not gay, therefore, we are not cowards and again we don’t hide behind wifi and attack from behind like G40,” the family member said.
“Regardless of the attacks on Mnangagwa, we still attend rallies and perform duties for our country in the face of aggression and humiliation and we still come and stand tall after being poisoned and today Gay 40 thinks we want to give up.
“We are still here for generations.”
There have been calls for Mnangagwa to walk out on Mugabe ahead of the crucial 2018 general elections.
Critics said he was likely to be dumped after helping the party to victory in the elections.
The source, who is close to Mnangagwa, said if he quit, it would be giving in to the demands of his critics and, therefore, it would not happen.
Mnangagwa will also respond to allegations that he put veteran broadcaster Godfrey Majonga in a wheelchair for life over a girlfriend, which the source said was false.
Rivals have often accused the G40 faction of having gay members.
However, former Zanu-PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo urged Mnangagwa to quit the government and Zanu-PF in the face of attacks on his person and dignity by the First Family.
Gumbo said Mnangagwa should walk out on his boss if he had any sense of self-respect.
“If it was me, I would have walked out, but you don’t know maybe they have their secrets, which keep them together,” he said.
“However, at the moment it appears that they are at cross-purposes and there is no harmony in the camp.”
Gumbo is one of scores of Zanu-PF officials, who were forced out of the party following allegations they were plotting with former Vice-President Joice Mugabe against President Robert Mugabe.
He warned the Vice-President was likely to face the same fate as his predecessor, Mujuru, who was unceremoniously forced out of government and party positions on accusations of trying to topple Mugabe using witchcraft and assassins.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) leader, Christopher Mutsvangwa, yesterday challenged Mugabe to call for an extraordinary congress to choose his successor before next year and if he did not, the former fighters would mobilise for a protest vote against him in the upcoming general elections.
Mutsvangwa told journalists in Harare that all progressive forces in Zimbabwe should form an alliance to ditch the ruling party’s G40 faction.
He claimed Zimbabwe’s woes were a result of the failed Zanu-PF leadership in the form of the G40 faction.
Mutsvangwa labelled Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi, touted to take over from Mugabe, as a coward, who almost fled the country when Zanu-PF lost the 2008 elections to the MDC-T. news day
