via Politburo to discuss factionalism — Moyo – Sunday News Jan 31, 2016
President Mugabe is still Zanu-PF’s 2018 Presidential candidate, and those plotting to succeed him face disciplinary action, party spokesperson Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo has said.
The Politburo, Ambassador Moyo said, will soon come up with, among other determinations, a position following reports of successionist politics in the party. Over the weeks, the private Press has been teeming with stories of successionist fights within Zanu-PF.
The articles have largely pitted a group purported to be backing Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa for the Presidency and another which claims to be rooting for First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe. Amai Mugabe has repeatedly dismissed these reports, pointing out that she harbours no presidential ambitions as her plate is full with her charity work and role as Zanu-PF Women’s League Secretary. She has also spoken of her cordial relations with VP Mnangagwa.
Authorities believe such reports are the handiwork of “successionists” who constantly work with the private media to further their agenda. Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba confirmed as much in an interview with ZiFM Stereo radio station last Thursday as he warned party officials who claim to back the First Family while harbouring presidential ambitions themselves.
Ambassador Khaya Moyo upped the ante with indications that extensive reports of these successionist plots are likely to come under the spotlight at Zanu-PF’s Politburo meeting in coming days.
He reiterated that President Mugabe’s 2018 candidature had been unanimously endorsed by the party’s 2014 National Congress and 2015 Annual National People’s Conference.
He told our Harare Bureau, “I do not want to pre-empt what the Politburo will focus on in its next meeting, but I would like to think that issues such as the ongoing media reports about factionalism will be discussed. When the President returns (from the African Union Summit in Ethiopia), it is likely that we will have a Politburo meeting to dwell on a number of issues, including review of the National People’s Congress (of 2014) as well as the (2015) Conference resolutions.”
He went on: “It is during this debate that we will want to know what is happening in the party. So, maybe after the meeting I will be able to speak on what the Politburo would have decided on such issues. As a party, we have taken a position that the President will be our candidate for 2018. Anyone who thinks differently is being ill-disciplined and going against the party.
“We took a position at the 2014 Congress that President Mugabe will be our candidate for 2018. This position was confirmed at the Conference last year and nothing has changed. Any talk of succession is out of order because there is no one to succeed. The President is still there.”
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