Mugabes celebrate 'victory' over Mujuru

FIRST Lady and Zanu-PF Women's League boss Grace Mugabe on Saturday boasted about how she brought down Mujuru by exposing her alleged corruption and plot to unseat her husband President Mugabe.

Addressing delegates at the just ended Zanu-PF congress, Grace said she might have been a lunatic but she put her whistle to good use by blowing it to bring attention to the vice president's corrupt and treacherous practices.

"I never wanted to do this to her (Mujuru), but the way she treated me, I was forced to do so. She tore the party regalia which she was wearing to an extent that she moved undressed in protest over my nomination," said Grace.

"When the motion for my elevation was moved, it is not everyone who supported me," she said.

"Amai Mujuru vakati pembe yapihwa benzi [Mujuru said a whistle has been given to a lunatic], but I was not moved by that.

"Just as a referee blows the whistle when a player fouls an opponent or is offside (in a football match), I started blowing the whistle for her as she was offside.

"I felt that the war credentials she possesses don't give her impunity; that is not a licence for corruption and extortion."

Grace said she sent emissaries to warn Mujuru and urge her to back down but was ignored.

"To be honest, I sent some people to try and talk to her, to ask her to desist from what she was doing but, as someone stepped in her treacherous ways, she did not stop," said the First Lady.

"She (Mujuru) said a lot of things but I, initially, kept my counsel. But I decided to fight back when she organized people to boo and embarrass me during my rallies.

"I was not impressed; I'm also human and I get hurt like everyone else. I decided to show her that if she wanted a public showdown I was up for the fight.

"It was never my intention that we should publicly expose what (Mujuru) was doing but she pushed me too far. We know everything that she was engaged in.

"We have only revealed the nib of the iceberg; but some of the activities zvinonyadzisa (they are so shameful and embarrassing) we can't discuss them publicly."

Mujuru did not attended the congress which was held in Harare throughout last week angering Mugabe who accused her of slinking away like a thief.

The president said he had wanted his deputy to attend congress and answer to allegations that she was plotting to illegally force him out of office.

Mujuru has since protested her innocence, denying all the allegations levelled against her but she is now unlikely to keep her position in the party and government.