War vet gagged from revealing conversation with Solomon Mujuru

ZANU-PF Politburo member Cephas Msipa yesterday rushed to stop a war veteran from revealing intimate details of a conversation he made with the late retired General Solomon Mujuru, three years ago.

Msipa chastised former Zanu-PF Kwekwe DCC chairman and war veteran George Valentine Makombe and warned him against going public on the matter.

A day before Mujuru perished in an unexplained inferno at his Beatrice Farm on August 15 2011, he travelled to the Midlands where he met Makombe and informed him that some Zanu-PF vultures were plotting to remove his wife, Joice from the Vice-Presidency.

Mujuru returned to Harare that Saturday, and the following night his house was gutted by a fire that killed him.

Revelations about the never-spoken-about meeting are contained in a letter addressed to President Robert Mugabe by Makombe.

Makombe, who says he had a special relationship with the late General Mujuru, disclosed that the two discussed the threats on his wife's position.

The letter was conveyed to Mugabe through Msipa. The former Midlands governor confirmed the development but was unhappy that Makombe had leaked the letter to the media.

"Why does Makombe have to leak the letter to the media when he gave it to me to forward to the President?" Msipa said.

"I don't want to be involved in matters that are supposed to be directed to the President and now leaked. It defeats the whole purpose."

Msipa then immediately called Makombe, rebuking him for leaking the letter and discussing the issue with the media. Shortly after that Makombe then called The Standard seeking to have the story withdrawn saying it would pre-empt Mugabe's promised response.

"Please do not publish that story until at least after congress. The President promised to respond before congress and publishing the story now would defeat the whole purpose and put some people in danger. The integrity of the old man [Msipa] will also be jeopardised since he promised to wait for the response," Makombe said.

Part of the letter to Mugabe reads: "Your Excellency, I have never told anyone these things, but recent events have forced me to put pen to paper. General Mujuru visited me in Kwekwe the last Saturday to Sunday of his life (sic) and some of the things [he told me] which include the attacks on the Vice-President [his wife] have come to pass while others are unfolding before my eyes."

He went on to tell Mugabe that allegations that the VP and her inner circle including the late General plotted to kill him were all untrue because they respected the President too much to do that.

"I can also tell you that the General was inwardly very dedicated to you, the revolution and Zanu-PF and could at no given time have tried to either remove you from office or have you killed. These are all side shows by people who Mujuru said were distorting the ideals of the party in pursuit of power," he wrote.

Makombe, a former darling of the rival faction led by Justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, fell out of favour with the Midlands political godfather after attempting to block his wife Auxillia Mnangagwa's rise to the central committee.

Makombe, who was part of the team led by retired Captain David Juro which produced a damning 45-page document attacking Mnangagwa, revealed in the letter that he has been threatened with death by his former comrades.

He goes further to write: "I am a humble citizen of Zimbabwe of little means and would not wish to invite your wrath. I have already been threatened that once you leave office I will be harshly visited by those who will have assumed power… I am among my people who will bury me unlike my unfortunate comrades who perished during the struggle."

Makombe unwittingly tells Mugabe that his days on the throne were numbered.

"Your Excellency as you draw towards the end of your anointed journey, Philistines have already surrounded you and have crawled into the State House as in Judges 16; 4-21," he wrote.

In an interview, Makombe dismissed reports that some Zanu-PF officials were plotting to kill Mugabe.

"If anyone wanted to kill the President they would have tried it much earlier, not now that he has already reached the afternoon of his life. Who would want to take the life of a man at that age and claim what credit? These are just side shows," said Makombe.