Mugabe’s Ousted Deputy Says Silence Doesn’t Mean Weakness

Joice Mujuru, ousted as Zimbabwe’s vice president in December, said she’s kept silent out of respect for the country’s founding president even after he branded her a witch and accused her of plotting to kill him.
Celebrating his 91st birthday in the resort town of Victoria Falls on Feb. 28, President Robert Mugabe told well-wishers that Mujuru had hired Nigerian shamans and performed a ritual aimed at killing or ousting him so that she could become the country’s leader.
“I’ve kept quiet out of respect for President Mugabe, but people mustn’t mistake my silence as weakness or guilt,” Mujuru said in an interview on March 4 from Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. “I’m not weak and I’m not guilty.”
Accusations against Mujuru, started in part by Mugabe’s wife, Grace, last year, led to her removal as vice president of both the country and his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party. Mujuru’s ousting alongside the firing of allies, including party spokesman Rugare Gumbo and party administration secretary Didymus Mutasa, was seen by the state-controlled press as a victory for a ruling party faction led by newly appointed Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
At least 17 other senior party officials, including Cabinet ministers, who were accused of being Mujuru loyalists by state media, have been removed from office in a purge strengthening Mnangagwa’s power base.
“I’m a Christian woman, born into the Apostolic Church, the president knows that,” Mujuru, 59, said. “I don’t practice witchcraft.”