President Emmerson Mnangagwa says that he had no time to visit his late former boss Robert Mugabe in hospital in Singapore as he had to give his attention to equally ailing Vice President Constantino Chiwenga who is hospitalised in China.
Mnangagwa said this in New York while addressing Zanu-PF supporters who had been hired and bussed in from Canada and the United States to come to New York and give him some solidarity at the 74th United Nations General Assembly.
Mnangagwa briefed his supporters about the demise of Mugabe in Singapore early this month, who has since been declared a national hero and awaits a family private burial inside a mausoleum which is taking thirty days to build at the National Heroes Acre.
He said he heard about him being unwell while he was attending a conference in Japan and had intended to visit him but failed as Chiwenga was preparing to go for theatre hinting that he instead wanted to rush to Chiwenga ahead of Mugabe.
Mnangagwa said Mugabe’s fate was futile as doctors and family had given up on chemotherapy treatment and his was only a matter of time before the demise.
“In fact, when we discussed about the issue, it turned out that treatment had stopped, doctors had stopped treatment, chemotherapy, one, because of age and also because the cancer had spread and it was not helping anymore,” said President Mnangagwa.
“He would have come back home, but the family said they wanted to remain. Of course they would have wanted me to come to Singapore, but also we had our Vice President General (Constantino) Chiwenga who is in a military hospital in Beijing who was going into a major operation and those two demands.”
Mnangagwa apparently gave an update on the health of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga whilst addressing mourners at Mugabe’s residence on the day that Mugabe died.
Mnangagwa said the former general had undergone a successful operation on the same morning that Mugabe died and was in a stable condition.
“…VP Chiwenga calls every morning asking about the situation. This morning I spoke to him. He came out of the theatre around 9:30 this morning. His operation was a success. He was saying when I get here, I should say to you Soko (Grace Mugabe’s totem), I will live and I will come alive. That is what he (Chiwenga) said this morning when he came out of the theatre.”