Source: ‘More purges costly for Zanu PF’ – DailyNews Live
Tendai Kamhungira 9 July 2017
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party cannot afford to expel
more of its members ahead of the crucial 2018 elections, as this will lead
to a costly implosion, analysts have said.
This comes after calls from war veterans and some sections of the party
for the expulsion of Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo,
for undermining Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa by castigating the
government’s Command Agriculture programme.
Moyo is not the only one who is being placed under the cosh as the Zanu PF
factional and tribal wars continue unabated.
The party’s national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere has been
facing serious pressure from other party members to relinquish his post,
following accusations of attempting to topple Mugabe.
The duo’s situation is not any different from that of the War Veterans
minister Tshinga Dube, who recently torched a storm after he threw his
weight behind former liberation war fighters who are putting pressure on
Mugabe to name his successor in order to stop the infighting in Zanu PF.
This is against the background that other party members like former Zanu
PF women’s league executives Eunice Sandi-Moyo and Sarah Mahoka are facing
possible prosecution for criminally abusing their offices following
allegations that they stole thousands of dollars during their tenure.
Some have even been calling for their total expulsion from the party,
following these allegations.
Though analysts said anything is possible in Zanu PF, they argue that the
party might not consider trading on these murky waters of expelling more
members, as this would be an ill-advised move.
They believe this will be a catastrophic move, considering that the
country will be holding elections in just a year’s time, adding that more
purges will benefit the opposition.
Political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said: “The purges will be costly and
will hasten implosion of the party.
The people concerned are part of Zanu PF elections rigging architecture,
so firing weakens the efficaciousness of their planned elections
manipulation antics.
“You know some of them like Moyo are loud hailers – they will speak a lot.
But also the centre in that party is no longer holding, so don’t expect
much decisiveness from Mugabe.
He is more comfortable with his surrogates fighting, as that deflates
pressure from the real issue – succession.”
There have been several dramatic developments within Zanu PF that have
seen the public hackling of senior party members in the past, in these
succession wars.
Before their resignations, Sandi-Moyo and Mahoka had seen a wave of
demonstrations being held against them in all the provinces.
This has been the case with Kasukuwere, whom analysts believe might
survive the current onslaught.
The party is currently divided between two stark groups, the Generation 40
(G40) and Mnangagwa’s alleged Team Lacoste.
Each of the groups is using every opportunity at its disposal to mutilate
the other, with a view to lessen the number of supporters of any of the
cliques.
The Zanu PF party’s wars exploded in 2014, when former vice president
Joice Mujuru was sacked together with several other Cabinet ministers, in
a historic carnage that set the tone for more divisions.
Mujuru was fired on allegations of plotting Mugabe’s ouster and
assassination. Since her expulsion Zanu PF has never known peace in as far
as the factional fights are concerned.
Another political analyst Shakespeare Hamauswa said as long as the
factional wars are benefitting Mugabe, he will not expel anymore of his
party members.
“Nothing is impossible in Zanu PF. But Mugabe is the one with the final
say regarding who should leave the party.
“As long the people you mentioned are furthering factional struggles that
are benefiting Mugabe then there will be no purges until such a time when
the factionalism reaches a point of threatening Mugabe’s position,”
Hamauswa said.
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