(Last Updated on January 22, 2021 by GERALD NCUBE)
HARARE – Presidential spokesperson George Charamba has dismissed claims that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been self-isolating because of contact with one of his aides who reportedly tested positive for the virus.
This follows reports from some sections of the local media reporting that Mnangagwa has been under 14-day isolation after being in contact with a positive Covid-19 case.
Yesterday, Mnangagwa cut short his leave to preside over the burial of two national heroes, Morton Malianga and Ellen Gwaradzimba while preparations are also underway for the burial of the late Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo who succumbed to Covid-19 on Wednesday.
“INFERTILE IMAGINATION AT AMH!!! Lots needless speculation and false dire conclusions by both NewDay and Zimbabwe Independent. The President, His Excellency ED Mnangagwa has never, is yet, to isolate on account of exposure to Coronavirus.
“We who work with him daily find it laughable that some faraway newsroom whose reporters we are yet to see covering him, claim isolation for him. The irony is that THEY, not him have chosen to isolate themselves from him, choosing to rely on arcane sources,” said Charamba on his personal Twitter account.
The ongoing reports were further fueled by the strange absence of both Vice Presidents, Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi at the Heroes Acre for the burial of Malianga and Gwaradzimba.
Commenting on the absence of the two VPs, Charamba said Mohadi was on his annual leave while Chiwenga who is Acting President was at home resting as ordered by Mnangagwa.
Three ministers in Mnangagwa’s administration have succumbed to Covid-19: Perrence Shiri ( Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Settlement) died last year in July while Manicaland Provincial Affairs Minister Ellen Gwaradzimba last week and Foreign Affairs Minister S.B Moyo on Wednesday.