Father Fidelis Mukonori, the Roman Catholic priest, who mediated in the negotiations between the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Generals and former President Robert Mugabe, has said that former first lady Grace Mugabe took part in some of the meetings. The negotiations ultimately resulted in the resignation of Mugabe after 37 years as Head of State.
In an interview with the Voice of America, Mukonori revealed that Grace had participated in some of the negotiations and addressed some of the concerns raised by the generals. Said Mukonori
She came in when she had to.
But she was not the major focus. We were zeroing in on the commander-in-chief of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces, and the Head of State and government and first secretary of Zanu-PF, President Robert Mugabe. For us, that was the centre of focus. We didn’t want to lose focus.
Father Mukonori also said that as far as the generals were concerned, former President Mugabe was responsible for Grace’s behaviour as she answered to him.
The first lady was the secretary for Women’s Affairs and that in my view was part and parcel of the responsibility of the president. So we did not have to deal with that issue.
Grace is said to have denied allegations that she was behind a plot to arrest or eliminate General Constantino Chiwenga. The plot to arrest Chiwenga failed after Military Intelligence learned of it in advance and were able to thwart it.
Father Mukonori went on to reveal that Grace had categorically denied the allegation that either she or members of her office had authored the statement which was read by, then Zanu-PF Youth League Secretary Kudzanai Chipanga on 14 November 2017. In the statement, the youths allegedly denigrated the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and told General Chiwenga not to hide behind the barrel of a gun claiming that as youths they were prepared to die for Mugabe. Chipanga later retracted the statement and publicly apologised for reading it, saying that it had been given to him by Rodney Dangarembizi, a known close associate of the former first lady.
Chipanga is currently in remand prison awaiting trial for reading out the statement. He is facing charges of publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State or alternatively causing disaffection among the police force or defence forces.
More: VOA