'Don't allow Mugabe to hold you hostage'

Former vice president Joice Mujuru has reportedly blamed Zimbabweans for "allowing [President Robert] Mugabe to hold them 'hostage'", as the southern African country's economic situation continued to deteriorate.  

"Mugabe has always said if Zimbabweans tell me to go, I will go, so he is there because we have not told him to go. I believe we should tell him to go … he is being kept in office by people who have looted this country and they think the only way to escape is by keeping the old man hostage in office," News Day quoted Mujuru as saying.

The leader of the opposition National People's Party said this while visiting party officials admitted at a hospital in Harare after being involved in a car accident.

She said that the decay of Zimbabwe's health delivery system was a sign the president did not care about the plight of citizens.

"At 93, what do you expect from him? He just does not care anymore and I doubt he still understands what is expected of him in terms of providing solutions to address the economic rot which is causing this decay of social service delivery," Mujuru said.

Mujuru's utterances came a few weeks after she claimed that she was a "clear" successor to Mugabe just before she was expelled from both the ruling Zanu-PF party and government.  

She was kicked out after Mugabe's wife Grace, launched a campaign against her, accusing her of instigating factional fighting and plotting to topple the veteran leader.

Mujuru, however, denied the charges and formed her own party, along with other former Zanu-PF members.

Mujuru said the "nation had fully endorsed my candidature" when Zanu-PF decided to expel her from government.

She said this during a presentation at the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom.

"When it became apparent that I was the clear successor to President Robert Mugabe, men seemed not ready for that although the nation had fully endorsed my candidature," Mujuru was quoted as saying at the time.