DEFENCE Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa “grabbed President Robert Mugabe by the lapels” during a heated argument in 2008, according to leaked United States embassy communications.

In an October 2, 2008, memo to Washington released by WikiLeaks, former US ambassador to Zimbabwe James MacGee admitted he had been unable to confirm the “physical altercation”, but was persuaded that there appeared to be a “serious rift” between the two men.

According to McGee, Mnangagwa and Mugabe squared off over the latter’s plans to give away the Home Affairs portfolio to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party during negotiations for a power sharing government.

In a cable marked 'Confidential', McGee said: “Mugabe leads a fractured party and he is trying to satisfy key individuals and groups. Rumours circulated last week that he and Emmerson Mnangagwa were involved in a heated argument over the possibility of ceding Home Affairs to the MDC.

“According to these rumours, Mnangagwa grabbed Mugabe by the lapels at which point Mugabe's bodyguards forcibly subdued Mnangagwa, injuring him to the point that he was hospitalised.

“We have been unable to confirm the physical altercation; nevertheless, there appears to have been a serious rift between Mugabe and Mnangagwa over the allocation of ministries. Mnangagwa is loathe to allow any of the security apparatus to pass to the MDC.”

Citing sources, McGee added that “defence forces chief Constantine Chiwenga and Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono are opposed to the MDC assuming responsibility for Home Affairs. They fear the ministry and police would investigate them for corrupt activities.”

The account of Mnangagwa’s confrontation with Mugabe has been met with incredulity by both supporters and political opponents of the two men.

“McGee was stretching the boundaries of what is possible, let alone what is rational," said one Zanu PF MP. "This is one case which might discredit the entire catalogue of these cables. It makes you wonder how much of these dispatches are untested wishes of diplomats trying to shape US government policy on the ground."

Seemingly intent on confirming the face-off, the US embassy’s former Deputy Chief of Mission Katherine Dhanani met Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi two weeks later on October 13 and quizzed him about the incident.

“Mzembi said he had been at recent meetings that included Mugabe and Mnangagwa and he doubted there was a rift between the two,” Dhanani wrote in a cable dated October 15, 2010, released by WikiLeaks last Friday.

“He categorised as false reports that Mnangagwa had been beaten at Mugabe's behest and said these reports had been spread by a faction of the CIO [Central Intelligence Organisation].”