Harare — VICE PRESIDENT Joseph Msika is in critical condition that has seen him being hospitalised twice within a fortnight with doctors reportedly saying he may not be able to resume duties any time soon, The Financial Gazette can reveal.

Highly placed sources said the Vice President was taken ill for an undisclosed ailment and flown to South Africa during the period Zimbabwe was hosting the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Summit which took place in the resort town of Victoria Falls from May 28 to June 8.

On returning home, Msika was re-admitted at St Anne's, a Harare private hospital, after he developed complications arising from his operation. His deteriorating health saw staff at the private health institution confining him to the high dependency unit.

President Robert Mugabe's spokesperson, George Charamba, declined to comment on the issue yesterday saying it was a family matter.

He said: "I cannot comment on a family issue. That's a family issue."

Garikayi Msika, the Vice President's son was dismissive when asked to comment about his father's health yesterday.

"Going to hospital does not mean that he was sick. His doctor felt that he needed to rest," he said.

However, Dumiso Dabengwa, the former ZIPRA intelligence supremo who worked closely with Msika during the liberation struggle confirmed that his colleague since the 1960's had been hospitalised.

"Yes I was phoned by people in ZANU-PF last week and they told me that he was in hospital. The person who told me said he was coming out of the hospital and that the Vice President was very ill," Dabengwa, who recently led the revival of ZAPU, said.

ZANU-PF's secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa, confirmed Msika was now out of hospital.

"I gather he was released yesterday although I have not gone to see him personally. But I understand he is getting better. We were just told he was not feeling well," said Mutasa.

Msika was last seen in public in the first quarter of this year and has been maintaining a low profile ever since.

His health became of concern to the public in March 2005 when Msika was taken to hospital after collapsing at home apparently having suffered a stroke and a blood clot in his head.

During the COMESA Summit, the co-Vice President is believed to have gone for an operation in South Africa to replace a tube embodied in him that was causing him sleepless nights.

Doctors at St Anne's declined to comment, but sources in the medical fraternity said the tough politician who ascended to the presidium in December 1999 was discharged under the care of a personal physician identified only as Dr Dube.

The failing heath of the Vice President, who occupied office on a former PF ZAPU ticket in 1999 following the death of then Vice President Joshua Nkomo, has raised speculation that the veteran nationalist might retire from active politics ahead of the ZANU-PF congress in December.

This has triggered intense jockeying to succeed him.

The party's national chairperson John Nkomo and Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu are said to be leading the pack of those seeking to replace Msika.

Nkomo, one of the three ministers of national healing and reconciliation, previously expressed his intention to run for the presidency should President Mugabe leave office.