Zimbabwe’s former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa seems set to be the next head of state of Zimbabwe.
Nicknamed “Ngwena” (The Crocodile) because of his fearsome power and ruthlessness, the 75-year-old Mnangagwa had appeared to have been outfoxed by Mugabe’s wife, Grace.
But Mnangagwa has close ties with the military, which was alarmed at Grace’s rise, and the generals intervened.
It was the climax of a long feud between Grace and Mugabe’s deputy to be in pole position to replace the ailing leader when he died or retired.
Mnangagwa — a long-time party loyalist and hardliner who, some say, could prove as authoritarian as Mugabe — initially fled to South Africa after his sacking.
In the early days after independence from Britain in 1980, Mugabe made Mnangagwa, who was then a young trainee lawyer, minister for national security.
Born in the southwestern Zvishavane district on September 15, 1942, Mnangagwa completed his early education in Zimbabwe before his family relocated to neighbouring Zambia.
His grandfather was a traditional leader and his father a political agitator for the repeal of colonial laws that disadvantaged blacks.
In 1966, Mnangagwa joined the struggle for independence from Britain, becoming one of the young combatants who helped direct the war after undergoing training in China and Egypt.
He was arrested and sentenced to death but his sentence was later commuted to 10 years in prison because of his young age.
After independence in 1980, he directed a brutal crackdown on opposition supporters that claimed thousands of lives in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.
He once remarked that he had been taught to “destroy and kill” — although he later claimed to be a born-again Christian. (NAN)
