Vice President Constantino Chiwenga is fatigued; he has a bullet from the independence war 39 years ago lodged in his lungs and is feeling the effects of a June 23 bomb blast at a Zanu PF rally in Bulawayo.

One or all three of the above is the reason why Chiwenga has been hospitalised in South Africa, according to George Charamba, the Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet in charge of presidential communications.

Chiwenga was airlifted to South Africa on October 9 and is admitted at the NetCare Pretoria East Hospital in Pretoria, together with his wife, Mary.

It is the same facility that was treating Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo, who is battling kidney failure.

Despite reports that Chiwenga is in a critical condition, Charamba insisted that the Vice President was merely undergoing a check-up.

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“I am not sure it’s an admission or a check-up. You will remember he and his wife were affected by the White City Stadium incident,” Charamba is quoted as saying by NewsDay.

“You also may want to know that historically, he had a bullet lodged in his lungs from the war period. He was shot in combat at Chiduku [West of Rusape].

 

“The other thing is he has told me he had not taken leave in the past five years and the gruelling election we’ve just gone through. He needed to fend off fatigue. Barring the unforeseen, we are expecting them back sometime this week.”

Mary had been treated for minor injuries in the immediate aftermath of the White City grenade attack, but Chiwenga was not known to have suffered any injuries.

The Vice President, however, revealed in May that he and his wife had been suffering from a mystery illness since November last year when, then the army commander, he led a military coup that ousted former President Robert Mugabe.

Both have been observed losing their skin pigmentation, with swollen hands and feet.-Zimlive