‘Mugabe expected the army to engage with him, not take over the country’
Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula says the Zimbabwean president had not expected the army to take to the streets after he had ‘done everything for them’
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had not expected the army to take to the streets‚ but rather that it would engage him if there were problems. This is according to Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula‚ who visited Zimbabwe last week following reports that the army had taken over. "We did not visit Zimbabwe to engage the president because we are from SA‚ but because our president is the chair of Sadc (the Southern African Development Community). We went there on behalf of Sadc … the intention was to scan the environment because at the time there had been reports of a military coup d’etat‚" Mapisa-Nqakula said on Radio 702 on Tuesday. "President Mugabe said‚ ‘I’ve done everything for the army. I’ve given them land and therefore I do not expect that when there are problems that they would take to the streets but rather that they’d come to me and engage me.’"
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