Retired General Constantino Chiwenga is back in Zimbabwe from China where he has been undergoing treatment for an undisclosed ailment, according to the state-controlled Zimpapers Images, an entity of Zimbabwe Newspapers Group.
Zimpapers Images captured Vice President Chiwenga arriving at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport accompanied by plainclothes security men and being greeted by the Chinese Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Zhao Baogang.
At least seven photographs show him in a seemingly jovial mood and shaking hands with his brother, son and close associates.
Zimpapers Images wrote in one of the tweets, “Vice President Constantino Chiwenga is welcomed by elder brother Onisimo and Son Tawanda at RG Mugabe International Airport in Harare, this morning, Nov 23, 2019.”
Another one shows him shaking hands with Ambassador Baogang and reads in part, “Vice President Constantino Chiwenga speaks to China's Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Zhao Baogang upon his arrival at RG Mugabe Inter Airport this morning, Nov 23, 2019. @HeraldZimbabwe @SundayMailZim @williamchikoto @ZTNnews @SundayNewsZimba.”
Chiwenga was airlifted to China in July this year amid reports that he was seriously sick. A few months later President Emmerson Mnangagwa told the nation that the retired general was getting the necessary treatment from doctors drawn from Zimbabwe, China and South Africa.
He did not disclose his illness.
Chiwenga played a key role in 2017 when the Zimbabwe Defence Force staged a defacto military coup that led to the toppling of the late former president Robert Mugabe.