Mnangagwa blocked from leaving Zimbabwe, son detained by suspected CIO operatives

Former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa was blocked from leaving the country after he was stopped from leaving Zimbabwe for the Mozambican port city of Beira by police manning the Forbes Border Post in Mutare.

Suspected Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives and plain-clothed police officers also held and detained one of his sons, David, for several hours. An immigration official who spoke to NewsDay said officials refused to open for him to pass. Said the immigration official:

He was here (Forbes Border Post) by 6am when the border opened but officials refused to allow him to pass the exit gate and he had to retreat. He and his team were among the first people to arrive at the border post but already there was an instruction to the effect that he should not leave the country. He was travelling in a Mercedes ML.

Mnangagwa took the option to leave the country via Forbes Border Post after efforts to secure a private jet hit a snug. Sources told NewsDay that Mnangagwa’s allies spent the better part of Monday looking for a private jet. They advised him to travel to Buffalo Range in Triangle where arrangements had been made for him to be picked up by a jet supplied by a South African business associate but the jet never showed up.

More: Daily News, NewsDay