Sekeramayi fallout grows

Source: Sekeramayi fallout grows – DailyNews Live

Fungi Kwaramba      6 June 2017

HARARE – The fallout in President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF over the
mention last week of introverted Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi as a
possible future leader of the warring former liberation movement is
escalating by the day.

So bad is the emotive saga becoming, that disgruntled former freedom
fighters warned yesterday that Mugabe and Zanu PF even risked facing an
“open rebellion” from miffed party faithfuls if they do not stem the
“growing attacks” on Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa by senior party
officials.

The warning by the war veterans comes in the wake of last week’s withering
criticism of Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF backers by politburo member and
Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo – during his presentation at Sapes
Trust in Harare where he threw Sekeramayi’s name into the party’s deadly
succession brawl.

However, Moyo – who Zanu PF insiders claim is one of the kingpins of the
Generation 40 (G40) faction which is rabidly opposed to Mnangagwa
succeeding Mugabe – made it clear then that he was not speaking on behalf
of the party during his presentation.

In the meantime, the angry war veterans also warned Sekeramayi at the
weekend that it would be a “big mistake and miscalculation” on his part if
he “ever allowed his head to be turned by the unusual praise” that he had
received from Moyo.

Yesterday, the disaffected ex-combatants also implored Mugabe to act
against Moyo to dispel “any lingering doubts” that the Tsholotsho North
legislator was acting on “assignment by the president” in his escalating
demolition job on Mnangagwa – who has been touted in some Zanu PF circles
as a shoo-in to succeed the nonagenarian.

Speaking to the Daily News late yesterday, the secretary-general of the
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), Victor
Matemadanda, also warned that Zanu PF could implode if Mugabe did not take
action against the G40 faction.

“Moyo, as far as the revolution is concerned, has nothing useful to say
about Zanu PF politics. He is just a master of division.

“He (Moyo) must just go . . . Zanu PF has lost direction because of people
like Jonathan . . . These people (G40) are a threat to peace and national
security,” Matemadanda claimed.

During his Sapes presentation, Moyo appeared to endorse Sekeramayi as
Mugabe’s more acceptable successor compared to Mnangagwa.

“The notion peddled by the so-called Team Lacoste that its leader is the
only one who is above or senior to everyone else below President Mugabe is
false and that falsehood should stop. There are others that are senior to
the leader of the so-called Team Lacoste.

“One of them, by way of an important example, is . . . Sekeramayi whose
loyalty to . . . Mugabe, the party and country; whose liberation
credentials, experience, consensus-style of leadership, stature,
commitment to the nationalist project and humility have no match,” he said
then.

This prompted the miffed war veterans to warn Sekeramayi that he risked
ending his political career if he allowed his head to be turned by Moyo’s
“unusual praise”.

“Sekeramayi should be wary of the G40 faction, whose idea is to isolate
the president from former liberation war comrades.

“They (G40) have attacked ED (Mnangagwa) before, and now they are setting
up Sekeramayi for failure,” Matemadanda told the Daily News’ sister paper,
the Daily News on Sunday, at the weekend.

“But the big question is: Are leaders in Zanu PF so weak that they don’t
see this threat that Jonathan Moyo poses in the party and to the
revolution?

“Or is it that someone is using him for some personal aggrandisement? Is
there any benefit for the revolution knowing his (Moyo’s) history and his
record as a minister to keep him in the party?” he asked further.

Yesterday, forthright ZNLWVA spokesperson Douglas Mahiya, also chipped in
saying the ruling party’s alleged failure to discipline Moyo could
“trigger chaos” in the deeply-divided former liberation movement.

“The Zanu PF constitution was designed to discredit people who took part
in the liberation struggle. That is why you hear people like Moyo saying
what they are saying.

“However, the question is: where does he get his powers? Are the powers
borrowed? Who is being protected by who? There is now no democracy in the
ruling party anymore,” Mahiya said.

The former liberation movement’s spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said the
war veterans had not formally complained about Moyo’s conduct.

“They have not written to us and they should engage us on what action they
want taken against people who are fanning factionalism,” Khaya Moyo told
the Daily News.

Zanu PF is currently being ripped apart by serious infighting which has
worsened in recent months as party bigwigs have escalated their mindless
bloodletting.

Insiders have consistently said that underlying the former liberation
movement’s deadly and seemingly unstoppable tribal and factional wars is
its unresolved succession question.

Mugabe has studiously refused to name a successor, arguing that his party
should rather follow what he sees as a more democratic process, to manage
his succession via a congress.