'You will always be my father': Mnangagwa to Mugabe

How a priest helped to convince Mugabe that his time as president was up

03 December 2017 - 00:01 By Ranjeni Munusamy

On the day the military coup began in Zimbabwe last month, former president Robert Mugabe begged Emmerson Mnangagwa to return from South Africa so they could jointly manage a handover of power.
Mnangagwa, who had been fired as vice- president the week before, confided to Mugabe in a phone conversation that he had fled Zimbabwe in fear of being murdered in a plot that would appear to be a suicide.
The man in the middle of the intense behind-the-scenes talks that resulted in Mugabe's resignation and Mnangagwa being sworn in as president, Catholic priest Father Fidelis Mukonori, revealed this week that he enabled the talks between the two leaders.
The talks began hours after Zimbabwe Defence Force generals seized temporary control of the country...

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