Zimbabwe crisis: The Crocodile Emmerson Mnangagwa bites after 40 faithful years

For decades Emmerson Mnangagwa was at Robert Mugabe’s side, an ally who was relied on to do the dirty work.

Zimbabwe's former vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare.

For decades Emmerson Mnangagwa was at Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s side, an ally who did the dirty work.

As Mugabe’s bodyguard in exile, then intelligence, defence and justice minister and Vice-President, he has been described as the one person more feared than his boss and he was groomed as Mugabe’s successor.

But within weeks the situation has changed and Mnangagwa, known as the Crocodile, now appears to be the man most likely to force Mugabe, 93, from office after almost 40 years. After clashing with Mugabe’s wife, Grace, the Vice-President was accused of treachery and sacked.

Fleeing into exile and claiming to fear for his life, Mnangagwa formed an alliance with the opposition, the armed forces chief and the powerful war veterans, vowing to march on Harare to save the nation from his erstwhile “father”.

Unlike Mugabe’s previous rivals, he may prove to be a match for the wily nonagenarian, who has been adept at playing his opponents off against each other to remain at the helm.

Mnangagwa, 75, who was long seen as a bridge between the governing Zanu (PF) and Zimbabwe’s shadowy intelligence and military operatives, served time in prison, endured torture and narrowly avoided execution before independence in 1980, before joining Mugabe in exile in Mozambique.

He is most notorious for his part in orchestrating, as spymaster, a crackdown on rivals in the south in the late 1980s by the North Korean-trained Fifth Army brigade. Thousands of civilians were killed. He denied any role in the massacres, blaming the army.

He has been credited with delivering Zanu (PF) victories in the 2008 and 2013 elections that the opposition said were marred by voter intimidation and rigging.

On the eve of the 2013 elections, he sat at Mugabe’s right elbow. Foreign media saw that as a sign he was the President’s choice as successor.

But Mnangagwa’s ties to Mugabe could not trump those of Grace Mugabe, the former secretary 41 years her husband’s junior, who is thought to nurture leadership ambitions of her own.

“In 1980 this person called Mnangagwa wanted to stage a coup. He wanted to wrestle power from the President. He was conspiring with whites. That man is a ravisher,” she told supporters recently.

Mnangagwa’s challenge could now be to convince potential backers both abroad and at home that he can restore stability for all Zimbabweans.

The Times