Zimbabwe VP Mnangagwa now fit and strong: Mugabe

HARARE, Sept. 4– Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on
Friday his deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa is now fit and strong after battling
illness a few weeks ago.

Mugabe urged the nation to desist from speculating about the Vice
President’s illness, saying the VP was not poisoned as speculated by others
who claim that he fell sick after eating ice cream from a dairy company
owned by the First Family. He also lashed out at those alleging witchcraft
on the illness of the VP. “The VP is now fit again and back. He is now
strong. He is back to normal,” Mugabe said while addressing his seventh
youth interface rally in Gweru, Midlands Province.

Mugabe said he met Mnangagwa’s medical doctor from South Africa in Harare
this week who told him that the VP’s illness was not due to food
poisoning.The doctors were still carrying out further research to ascertain
the cause of the illness, Mugabe said. Mnangagwa suffered a severe bout of
vomiting and diarrhea while attending a ZANU-PF youth interface rally in
Gwanda, Matabeleland South on Aug. 12 and was immediately airlifted to a
medical facility in Gweru, Midlands Province before being flown to South
Africa the next day for further treatment. Since falling sick, social
media had been abuzz with claims that the VP fell sick after eating ice
cream from a dairy firm owned by the First Family, claims that were
dismissed by the government as false.

The VP on Thursday issued a statement denying that he fell sick after
eating ice cream from Gushungo Dairy. Meanwhile, the First Lady Grace
Mugabe urged party youths to desist from denigrating President Mugabe and
reiterated her call for senior party members to stop fighting over Mugabe’s
succession, saying the veteran president will tell when the time comes for
him to retire. “The presidency is not a job that you can apply for. It’s a
job that is difficult to get,” the First Lady said at the Gweru
rally.Mugabe, 93, will seek re-election in next year’s harmonized elections
after his party endorsed him as its presidential candidate. – XINHUA