Emmerson Mnangagwa: I was going to be eliminated

Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe’s president-to-be, said he had to flee as he was going to be “eliminated” by Robert Mugabe’s government:

The people of Zimbabwe, you who are gathered here to receive me, may I say in the name of our Lord I thank you considerably.

Exactly 16 days ago I received a letter firing me from government of the republic of Zimbabwe as vice-president within two hours I was informed about plans to eliminate me.

He then went on to refer to a previous attempt to eliminate him:

Realising that on the 12 August this year I was subjected to poisoning that resulted in my being airlifted to South Africa.

I survived that poisoning. This time around I said to myself, ‘I should not wait for them to eliminate me – let me go out and let me go out and with you the people of Zimbabwe, make your voice heard.'”