Despite reports that Zimbabwean Vice President Joice Mujuru would keep her position, the vice president officially resigned from her position on Monday afternoon, according to Zimbabwean news website ZimEye.
Vice President Mujuru, who has served as vice president since 2004, gave her resignation letter to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as the December elective congress approaches. But President Mugabe did not accept her resignation, saying that she “must take responsibility of what she started,” an anonymous source told ZimEye. The exact reasons for her resignation are not yet known.
In early October, President Mugabe allegedly found secret tapes in which Vice President Mujuru is heard saying that he has overstayed his welcome and is resting on his feces. The Jonathan Moyo-controlled state media also published a lengthy report accusing Vice President Mujuru of attempting to overthrow President Mugabe by gaining the army’s affection.
Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe herself called on Vice President Mujuru to resign on the grounds that she betrayed the president by rallying support for a possible challenge to the party leadership at the December congress. She even went on to say that the vice president is incompetent, only receiving her position thanks to the president’s influence.
A Zimbabwe African National Union — Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) faction associated with Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa had pursued several strategies in an attempt to weaken Vice President Mujuru and force her to resign before the December elective congress, but they all backfired. The strategies included having First Lady Grace Mugabe lead their anti-Mujuru campaign and simultaneously promote Mnangagwa as a potential vice presidential candidate, suspending and firing Mujuru-aligned chairpersons and amending the constitution to enable President Mugabe to appoint the vice presidents as well as the national chairman.