The government of Zimbabwe has rubbished social media claims that President Emmerson Mnangagwa is refraining from taking his annual leave fearful that his rivals in government will stage a coup d’état against his administration as happened to his predecessor, the late Robert Mugabe.
Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Ndavaningi Mangwana on Friday said:
President Mnangagwa’s presidency is completely different from the previous dispensation. He will take his annual leave on the day of his choosing like everyone else.
Succession in Zimbabwe happens as a constitutional process and being on leave is not one of the conditions for succession.
Taking the matter to microblogging site Twitter, Mangwana condemned “hypocritical” complaints raised around Mnangagwa’s travels. He wrote:
When HE leaves the country, you complain that he travels too much, he doesn’t stay at home. He stays at home you complain that he is not leaving the country.
He is damned when he does and damned when he doesn’t. But being President, he always exercises his executive judgement.