Cunning Grace controls fallout

Source: Cunning Grace controls fallout – DailyNews Live

Mugove Tafirenyika      29 March 2017

HARARE – In a surprising turn of events, the top 50 office bearers of the
Zanu PF women’s league, who met in Harare yesterday, did not make a
definitive public pronouncement on the fate of embattled party
heavyweights Eunice Sandi Moyo and Sarah Mahoka – instead passing the buck
on the hot potato issue to the party’s politburo.

Yet, yesterday’s meeting had been called to endorse the decision taken by
the women’s league’s top 10 officials – who met with powerful First Lady
Grace Mugabe in Harare on Monday, and voted for the sacking of Sandi Moyo
and Mahoka.

Once again, Sandi Moyo and Mahoka, as well as Tabetha Kanengoni-Malinga –
the minister of State in Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko’s office – just
like they did on Monday, did not attend yesterday’s meeting at Zanu PF’s
headquarters in the capital.

But according to State broadcaster, the ZBC, Grace said the meeting had
been convened to consider the petitions that had come from the provinces
regarding the two ladies, before “making a final decision”.

“Addressing the meeting this afternoon (yesterday), the national secretary
of the wing and first lady, Amai Dr Grace Mugabe said the meeting aims at
examining the issues raised by the demonstrators and allegations with a
view to ascertaining whether they are true, genuine or not and coming up
with recommendations that will be forwarded to the politburo and the
disciplinary committee for final decision,” the ZBC said.

Women’s league secretary for information Thokozile Mathuthu later told the
media after the meeting that the key organ was going to follow its
constitution before making public its final decision.

“Following the deliberations, it suffices at this stage to say that due
process regarding the resolution of disciplinary cases of this nature will
be followed through the dictates of the rules of our revolutionary party,
and the nation will be advised accordingly in the fullness of time,”
Mathuthu said.

However, well-placed sources told the Daily News last night that the fate
of Sandi Moyo and Mahoka “had been sealed” – adding ominously that “more
purges are on the way”.

The insiders added that the decision to defer pronouncements on the matter
to the politburo was consistent with President Robert Mugabe’s insistence
that Zanu PF should exhaust all party procedures in such matters, and give
a fair hearing to members facing claims of indiscipline.

“The fact remains that those two are history. The so-called processes are
only a formality as it was agreed by the national (women’s league)
executive that they should go,” a league official said.

Mahoka, who was in the United States of America during last week’s
demonstrations, told the Daily News last night that she was “shocked” by
the developments.

“I was away and only came back on Friday and I was shocked to hear that I
am being accused of being disrespectful to the first lady … Mahoka, of
all the people! How does that happen?

“If Mahoka doesn’t like the first lady, then who does? I have always been
at the forefront of supporting her and the president, and this will not
change my position because I know it is not them who are behind all this,”
the clearly emotional Mahoka said.

She accused “a Kadoma businessman” of fomenting divisions in the women’s
league.

“He has been saying on a video that he wants me and Sandi out of the
party, claiming to be some co-ordinator of the project. I don’t know which
Zanu PF organ this person is co-ordinator of because it cannot be the
women’s league, because he is not a woman.

“However, and as a disciplined party cadre, I will wait for the announced
process to unfold. But I will support the first lady and the president
even from cell level because I benefited a lot from their leadership,
including the farm that I own.

“And for that reason I can’t abandon them,” the forthright Mahoka added.

While the league was tight-lipped about what transpired in the Monday
meeting, sources had told the Daily News afterwards that  an official
announcement about the two women’s expulsion would be made yesterday.

“They (Sandi Moyo and Mahoka) have been expelled. Amai (Grace) showed her
power today and from now on they are nobodies

“Amai will chair a meeting of the women’s league top 50 at the Zanu PF
Headquarters on Tuesday, and we understand that both Sandi and Mahoka are
barred from attending that meeting,” one of the sources said.

Mahoka, who is famed for having publicly dressed down Vice President
Emmerson Mnangagwa in front of Mugabe last year, is the women’s league
treasurer, while Sandi Moyo is Grace’s deputy.

The women’s league has been closely linked to a party faction going by the
name Generation 40 (G40), which is rabidly opposed to Mnangagwa succeeding
Mugabe.

In February last year, Mahoka brazenly heckled Mnangagwa – calling the
stunned VP in front of Mugabe and other bigwigs a lame duck.

Mahoka and Sandi Moyo were also among the group of women’s league members
who have been aggressively pushing for the revival of the debate about the
need for a woman to become one of Zanu PF’s two vice presidents.

Their calls for a woman to be elevated to the presidency were seen as
directed against Mnangagwa, as the appointment of Mphoko was part of the
conditions of the country’s unity accord which resulted in the post of the
second VP being reserved for senior former Zapu officials.

Sources had also previously told the Daily News that it was inevitable
that Sandi Moyo and Mahoka would face the boot, after Sandi Moyo shocked
the league by allegedly openly declaring her interest in becoming the
woman Zanu PF VP, when the women’s quota system kicks in.

In the meantime, political analysts have warned that the sacking of Sandi
Moyo and Mahoka would likely further widen fissures in the deeply-divided
former liberation movement.

Zanu PF insiders also told the Daily News that the turmoil in the women’s
league could see factional re-alignments within the party.

They said the expulsions of Sandi Moyo and Mahoka’s were also likely to
further fuel the party’s deadly succession brawls, which had escalated in
the last few weeks, especially after Mugabe’s 93rd birthday interview with
the ZBC, in which he appeared to slam the door shut on ambitious party
bigwigs angling to succeed him.

Analysts have also previously said Mugabe’s failure to resolve Zanu PF’s
succession riddle is fuelling the party’s infighting, which is devouring
the former liberation movement.

The 93-year-old has studiously refused to name a successor, insisting that
the party’s congress has that mandate: to choose a person of their own
choice.