VANCOUVER/HARARE– President Emmerson Mnangagwa, is allegedly plotting to disappear from the country into exile once toppled from power by the military or his own ruling Zanu PF party by June 2020, Spotlight Zimbabwe, has been told.
According to a former aide who worked for Mnangagwa when he was vice president between 2014-2017, the president has reportedly found a bolthole in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he is said to have been offered State protection should the need arise, after befriending the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Mnangagwa was in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in March this year, on a 3-day working visit at the invitation of the Crown Prince, and had to cut short his trip to help with the response to the Cyclone Idai disaster.
“It’s all over for him (Mnangagwa),” said the aide who has since moved to Canada. “Mnangagwa knows that his time is up and the army is going to remove him soon. I was informed by former colleagues in the presidency, that he negotiated a safe haven for himself in Dubai, during his official trip to the UAE in March and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi offered him State protection, should he be removed from office via a coup or otherwise.”
The aide also revealed that Mnangagwa had approached China with a similar request after controversially winning the 2018 presidential elections, but Beijing was evasive on the issue, and ended up shutting the doors on him, after he fell out with the army and Vice President, Rtd General Constantino Chiwenga, who is currently in China where he has received an antidote for poisoning, and believed to be recovering.
“I understand he also approached China in August 2018, but they were evasive and shut the door on him because of the fallout that has happened between him and VP Chiwenga and the military as a whole. There are claims that he is moving his money to the UAE and already owns assets there, including a private jet and a penthouse somewhere in Dubai. The UAE will be ideal to protect his financial wealth unlike China, where there is risk of his bank accounts being frozen, like has happened to Mugabe whose monies in China have been forfeited to Zimbabwe although it’s not significant because his family was banking in Hong Kong and Singapore.”
Mnangagwa has openly boasted that his UAE visit in March, was fully paid by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. “I was in Abu Dhabi where I was invited by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi,” said Mnangagwa while opening a Zanu PF Central Committee session in the capital.
“They looked after us well then we hear some saying we have hired a plane for that visit. Forget about that. They sent us their plane. We never paid anything as Zimbabwe. The Crown Prince sent us a huge plane to carry us and it returned us (home). I told him that we have a challenge of planes so every time I want to travel I will just call and he will send us the plane. So those who don’t know were just parroting what they don’t know and I just laughed it off.”
Yesterday Mnangagwa applauded the UAE for its support for the country’s health sector, as the Emirates pledged to construct a pharmaceutical plant in Zimbabwe, while officially handing over a consignment of equipment and surgical sundries worth about US$2 million, according to State media reports.
“I am happy that His Highness, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi is willing to establish a pharmaceutical plant in Zimbabwe to manufacture the drugs which we need,” said Mnangagwa.
“Allow me on behalf of Government and the people of Zimbabwe, and indeed on my own behalf, to express our heartfelt gratitude to His Highness, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates for the timely, generous and most kind donation towards the resuscitation of our health delivery system.”
Last month an opposition MDC legislator for Epworth, Ethrage Kureva, said his party has a raft of measures to dispose Mnangagwa, including working with ruling party members.
“Among the processes we will be using to oust Mnangagwa out of office for his failure to deal with economic problems, which have seen the country go 18 hours without electricity daily, is impeachment and we are working with those in Zanu PF to ensure it’s successful.”
