Zimbabwe vice president resigns amid sexual misconduct allegations
Zimbabwe's Vice President Kembo Mohadi resigned Monday after sexual misconduct allegations, a rare move by a public official in the southern African country.
Local news outlets have since late last month been awash
with audio recordings of phone conversations allegedly of Mohadi soliciting sex
from married women, including a subordinate in his office.
First published by online publication ZimLive, the lurid
clips included one where a man can be heard scheduling to meet for sex at his
office.
"I am stepping down as the vice president of the
Republic of Zimbabwe … with immediate effect," the 71-year-old leader said
in a letter posted on the Information Ministry's Twitter account.
He said he was quitting "not as a matter of
cowardice" but out of respect for his office "so that it is not
compromised or caricatured by actions that are linked to my challenges as an
individual."
"I have been going through a soul-searching pilgrimage
and realized that I need the space to deal with my problems outside the
governance chair," he said.
He repeated his denial of any wrongdoing, saying he was
"a victim of information distortion, voice cloning, and sponsored spooking
and political sabotage," adding he would seek legal redress.
Mohadi's resignation set off a buzz on social media with
speculation fast shifting to who President Emmerson Mnangagwa would pick as his
replacement.
Jacob Ngarivhume, an opposition politician and government
critic, said he welcomed Mohadi's resignation and hoped it was the "first
of many as more evidence of (ruling) Zanu-PF impropriety is released."
Mohadi, a retired soldier and veteran of the country's
liberation war, was one of Zimbabwe's two vice presidents alongside Constantino
Chiwenga.
He served in several ministerial positions under former
president Robert Mugabe and was appointed vice president in 2017 following the
longtime ruler's ouster.
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