Mnangagwa dodges succession questions in Parliament

VICE-PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday skirted questions relating to the recent public attacks directed at him by First Lady Grace Mugabe, where she demanded that President Robert Mugabe should name a successor.

The questions were thrown at Mnangagwa during Parliament's question-and-answer session.

Mnangagwa curtly said the issue had nothing to do with government operations, but was purely a Zanu-PF matter.

"First point, where did the First lady say this? At a rally?

"We have no problem in more members joining the (Zanu-PF) party.

"We were at a rally of our party Zanu-PF, that is a political party.

"You have referred to government. I am not aware of any statement in government on the issue you are talking about."

Last week, on two occasions, Grace called on Mugabe to name his preferred successor in the event that he leaves office, fuelling speculation that the Zanu-PF leader could be on his way out.

Opposition MDC-T MPs also quizzed Mnangagwa, who is leader of government business in Parliament, on whether it was proper for the First Lady to attack presidential spokesperson, George Charamba, a civil servant, accusing him of forcing State media to report favourably on members of a certain Zanu-PF faction.

Mnangagwa said the Charamba issue was subjective and could only be responded to through the same platform it was raised.

Meanwhile, Defence minister Sydney Sekeremanyi requested more time to get a briefing on violence that erupted in Harare on Tuesday when soldiers allegedly ran amok in the city centre assaulting uniformed police officers over an unknown matter.

He said he would request the police and army officials to furnish him with a report on the cause of the clashes and how the issues could be resolved among the two State security organs.