I feared Mugabe would be lynched, former aide narrates

George Charamba, the former spokesman of ousted Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has revealed in an interview with privately owned Daily News site that he feared the 93-year-old leader would be lynched for trying to hold on to power.

During Mr Mugabe’s last week in office, he was under house arrest as the military staged a takeover which eventually ousted him and Charamba said he feared civilians could “drag out and lynch” the leader in a “Libyan scenario”.

“I started visualising an image of Muammar Gaddafi,” Mr Mugabe’s former spokesman George Charamba said.

Speaking further, the former aide said military officials informed him at the time that tens of thousands of protesters calling for the president’s resignation could target Mr Mugabe personally.

Read also: ZIMBABWE: Finally, Mugabe resigns after 37yrs in power

“It was possible because the soldiers said ‘we cannot turn our guns on civilians, who are marching against the president and spill blood,'” the Daily News reports Mr Charamba as saying.

Instead, Mugabe and his wife Grace received a “golden handshake” worth many millions of dollars as part of a deal negotiated before the resignation of the ageing autocrat.

A senior ruling party official with direct knowledge of the agreement said the total would not be less than $10m and also added that Mugabe was granted immunity from prosecution and a guarantee that no action will be taken against his family’s extensive business interests.

The former leader also received a “cash payment of $5m” immediately after leaving office and his $150,000 salary will also be paid until his death.

 

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