Johannesburg - Grace Mugabe has called upon Vice-President Joice Mujuru to resign immediately, saying she stole millions via a “botched” diamond deal with Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al Qasimi of the United Arab Emirates.
The first lady also says Mujuru had shares in a largely white-owned diamond company which she says was part of a western plot to destabilise President Robert Mugabe.
Grace Mugabe was speaking to veterans of the war which brought Zimbabwe to 1980 independence.
“We know her capabilities and we know those who can reach President Mugabe’s levels and she is not one of them,” Grace Mugabe said according to today’s pro-Mugabe Herald.
“One, she survives on extortion and does not want to work for herself. Two, she wants to grab power from the president illegally. Three, all minerals you (Mujuru) declare that they are yours, and four, you are incompetent,” she said of the vice-president, whose powerful husband, Solomon, died in a mysterious fire on the couple’s farm three years ago.
“She (Joice) is someone without principles and they (the US and UK) wanted to use someone from within the party... She was given money and some things to give people.”
Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al Qasimi of the United Arab Emirates made an official visit to Harare early last year, and various agreements, in principal, were signed. Several other Arab leaders have visited Zimbabwe in recent years, most of them interested in the alluvial diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe, where gem quality stones have dried up at some of the small, open-cast diamond mines.
Grace Mugabe, speaking at the children’s orphanage near Harare, said that Mujuru was plotting against her husband “day and night”, and named various senior party politicians who were working with her.
Rumours in Harare late on Thursday and early on Friday said Mujuru has been sacked, but Zanu-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo dismissed that. - Independent Foreign Service
The Star