Grace Mugabe in ‘poison ice cream’ row with vice president

Zimbabwe’s first lady has hit back at claims by the vice president — her main rival to succeed ageing leader Robert Mugabe — that his ice cream was poisoned at a ruling party event. Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa — better known by his nickname “The Crocodile” – made the allegations earlier this week but did not name the first lady, Grace Mugabe.“The medical doctors who attended to me ruled out food poisoning but confirmed that indeed poisoning had occurred,” Mnangagwa said at a press conference late Thursday, according to local media. Mnangagwa had first indicated that he was poisoned last week and said it happened at a Zanu-PF party event in September. Grace Mugabe lashed out at Mnangagwa, describing him as a “nobody.” “I can’t prepare one cup of an ice cream to kill Mnangagwa. Who is he? I’m the wife of a president,” she said at an event in the capital Harare. “I’m the first lady and Mnangagwa is a nobody. He was employed by my husband. Why would I kill him?” she said.Mugabe, 93, has ruled Zimbabwe for more than three decades.