"I AM STILL UNDER HOUSE ARREST" - MUGABE TELLS OBIANG AS MNANGAGWA WALKS OUT OF BLUE ROOF

President Emmerson Mnangagwa accompanied President Obiang of Equatorial Guinea to former President Mugabe's Blue Roof mansion on Friday morning, but left about an hour and half before Obiang, soon after the small talk, when Mugabe suddenly asked Obiang, "Mr President, please ask your counterpart why he is spying on me?"

Impeccable sources confirm that President Emmerson Mnangagwa left Blue Roof, president Robert Mugabe's home, more than an hour before Equatorial Guinea President, Obiang, who he had quietly accompanied to see the former strongman. It was the first time the two had met since Operation Restore Legacy in November last year.

Mnagagwa promised to speak to Mugabe after the elections before he left, a position he repeated to Obiang when the two met after the Mugabe meeting. They met at State House for Obiang to report on the outcome of the meeting with Mugabe, which turned out to be mostly a grievance-laden monologue.

Obiang relies heavily on Zimbabwean technocrats in his country and has also enjoyed strong support in technical military training from the Zimbabweans. He gets along quite well with the man now known as "The Peoples' General", now Vice President Chiwenga.

Mnangagwa left as soon as it became clear that this would be the first time Mugabe would complain so vociferously to a visiting foreign delegation.

At a meeting on Friday morning between Mugabe and Obiang at the Blue Roof, the former president complained that he was still under house arrest and can not move about freely despite assurances that he is safe and protected.

“Protected only means that I am in jail. We can not move about freely. Chiwenga and Mnangagwa have surrounded me with their soldiers. These soldiers, " he said, pointing out of his window into his garden, are actually here to see what we are doing on a daily basis, who we see, who we talk to."

Mugabe claimed, "I know my communication is not private. My wife's communication is not private. We are being spied on. " Mugabe claimed to Obiang that he put now President Mnangagwa in charge of Ian Smith's famed eavesdropping and spying edifice. "Emmerson did not demolish it. He has been modernising it all these years."

Professor Jonathan Moyo, who Mugabe claimed only makes Whatsapp calls to the former president and his wife, "also confirmed this to us. So we no know that is how he has been able to put his tentacles into all areas of government. Now he has handed all this to Chiwenga."

According to Mugabe's message to Obiang, "Chiwenga is not a fool. He knows Emmerson has always had control over these arms of government and the infrastructure that he was putting in place to back him up once he was president. That is why Chiwenga has demanded and has been given portfolios like National Security."

"Well, we're still under house arrest, as far as we can see. These soldiers are not protecting us, they are spying on us."

Mugabe, rather surprisingly, made the declaration that he did not want Mnangagwa to leave the presidency.

"I want to work with him to make sure that we go back to a separation of powers: army separate from politics, separate from the judiciary. I can help with that. But he has to have legitimacy first, which he does not have. He is not in charge. The military are."

Mugabe spoke passionately on the subject of General Chiwenga being given the vice-presidency, saying that is not how it is supposed to work.

"We have had retired military men in the party before, yes. And even in government. But look at how we did it. Someone retires first, they spend some time, respectable time, getting re-oriented. And then you bring them in through the structures, MP, Senator and the like.  I never had a General as Defence Minister or Security Minister because once you do that, you start conflating the two arms."

The former president said, on the contrary, the military establishment has now taken over not only the party, but also government and at least "two other pillars of state".

The former Zimbabwe leader then made a direct request to Obiang, to ask Mnangagwa to let Professor Jonathan Moyo and Patrick Zhuwao back into the country and let them get on with their lives.

"He has to give the undertaking that nothing is going to happen to them. Even if feels they have wronged him and Chiwenga, he has to promise that this will be forgiven. We forgave Ian Smith and the Rhodesians. We forgave each other after the ZIPRA issue in Matabeleland in the 1980s. Can you tell Emmerson that these people, Jonathan, Patrick and others can help him and the party. They need to work together, but only if forgives them. He has to give you the assurance that nothing will happen to them if they come back."

Mugabe claimed that Professor Jonathan Moyo had given him the assurance that if he allowed back in with no persecution, he will stay out of politics, if he was not needed by the party for a new assignment.

Most weirdly, though, Mugabe also claimed that Vice President Chiwenga especially, had also "captured" the religious constituency in the country, accusing him of having put Christian leaders in the country under the influence of the military.

Obiang then also met with Mnangagwa soon after his meeting Mugabe. During this meeting, Mnangagwa told Obiang that it was to be expected that Mugabe would be having power-withdrawal symptoms.

"We are treating him very well. Obviously, he is not longer head of state and is finding it hard to adjust to the reality the country doesn't revolve around him as it did before. I will speak to him after the elections."

On the plea to forgive Jonathan Moyo and Patrick Zhuwao, President Mnangagwa told Obiang he has already publicly stated that he forgives these people.

"Obviously, we need strong institutions and if these people have cases at the courts, I can't be seen as a president interfering in that. They will have to exonerate themselves in whatever court is accusing them of whatever crimes. I have never said being politically opposed to me is a crime, that's why Kasukuwere is back and nothing has happened to him. He had no criminal charges against him. But the others are accused of stealing money. They need to exonerate themselves and then live in peace in the country. Otherwise, yes, I have definitely forgiven them, I hold no grudge against them for being politically opposed to me. That is not a crime."



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