Up to 27 bodyguards attached to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe have allegedly been suspended after he fell at Harare International Airport Thursday last week.
According to Zimbabwe’s The Standard, the guards who were faulted for being slow to react as 90-year-old Mugabe stumbled from the dais while going down the steps, received their suspension letters Friday.
Presidential spokesman George Charamba however dismissed the allegations of the shake up in the president’s security detail.
“There is only one hand that shakes up and that hand has not shaken up [anything],” Charamba said.
A statement attributed to an unnamed official contradicted Charamba’s rebuttal saying that while certain sections are taking the fall lightly, it is a serious matter.
The official further stated that the probe surrounding the fall extended to Air Zimbabwe.
“There are many departments that are being investigated, from Air Zimbabwe, the advance team and the security. I doubt if some of them will come back,” the official said.
This latest development is a stark contrast to an earlier statement by Information Minister Jonathan Moyo denying that there was ever a fall to begin with.
Moyo described reports of the fall off a dais as “morbid celebration”, saying Mugabe broke it without any help.
The minister further said that there is no sufficient evidence that Mugabe actually fell.
– the-star.co.ke
