via Succession tears Zanu PF apart – DailyNews Live by Fungi Kwaramba and Thelma Chikwanha 17 NOVEMBER 2013
President Robert Mugabe is struggling to contain serious power struggles within Zanu PF which have reached a tipping point following chaotic provincial elections.
The 89-year-old last week met with senior party officials in a bid to resolve the fall-out between factions battling to succeed him.
The meeting was held at Zimbabwe House.
The veteran leader was briefed of the irregularities and chaotic manner in which Zanu PF provincial elections were held in three provinces.
A faction led by Vice President Joice Mujuru was accused of cheating and vote-buying in the polls, a charge the faction strenuously denies.
Mujuru and Justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, are front-runners in the race to succeed Mugabe but both deny leading any factions.
Provincial elections were held in Manicaland, Midlands and Mashonaland Central where John Mvundura, Jason Machaya and Luke Mushore were respectively declared winners, amidst accusations of vote-rigging through the use of fake voting slips.
Mugabe was briefed of the events in Mashonaland Central where six districts did not vote.
Indigenisation minister Francis Nhema, who was the presiding officer in the hotly-disputed election, was yet to give his report when the Mashonaland Central results were announced on radio.
Citing irregularities and the outstanding vote in those six districts, senior Zanu PF officials recommended the nullification of the results.
The State media, in particular, the Herald, ran a billboard announcing Mugabe had nullified the results. However, the story was not reported in its news pages.
Mugabe was said to be still digesting the Mashonaland Central report during his visit to the Far East.
“(The) politburo has not as yet received results from Mashonaland Central province. Equally, the politburo is still to receive a report which accompanies the same,” Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba told the media.
“It is only when the politburo has been favoured with both the results and the accompanying report that it is in a position to study both before taking a decision.”
To underline the extent of the chaos, Rugare Gumbo, Zanu PF secretary for information and publicity, contradicted an instruction given by Mugabe to his spokesperson, Charamba, to advise the media that the politburo was still to receive results of the Mashonaland Central provincial elections.
In a statement issued on Friday, Information minister Jonathan Moyo advised that the president’s directive as conveyed through Charamba was the correct and only official position regarding the status of the results of the Zanu PF elections for the provincial executive in Mashonaland Central.
“There can be no executive authority in Zanu PF higher than the party’s President and First Secretary,” said the statement. “Any suggestion or claim to the contrary is mischievous to the extreme.”
But Didymus Mutasa, secretary for administration, who has been accused of fanning divisions by his rivals, appeared to suggest Mashonaland Central results stand.
Mutasa said the Herald was not always right and does not speak on behalf of the party.
He said all announcements were made through party spokesperson Gumbo, dismissing assertions that elections in Mashonaland Central had been nullified.
Tensions are simmering in the province and top Zanu PF officials who spoke to the Daily News on Sunday yesterday said they have beefed up their security.
“People have reasons to be scared and have thus beefed up their security as they fear the worst. I have personally increased the number of my bodyguards,” said one official.
To further complicate things, Zanu PF has set up an ad-hoc committee to supervise the party’s remaining seven provincial elections, after the vote was sullied by fraud allegations.
Simon Khaya-Moyo, Zanu PF national chairman, told a news conference at the party headquarters that the seven provinces will vote on November 23.
“The vice president and second secretary Joice Mujuru chairs the committee with the national chairman Simon Khaya-Moyo, secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa, and the secretary for commissariat Webster Shamu, as members,” Khaya-Moyo said.
The committee, ironically, is the one that is accused of organising the disputed polls on the provinces that have held elections so far.
Provincial elections are due in Harare, Bulawayo, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Masvingo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South.
“Politburo members and members of the central committee will be deployed from the party headquarters to supervise the elections,” Khaya-Moyo said.
Provincial team leaders are ministers Ignatius Chombo, Obert Mpofu, Dzikamai Mavhaire, Nicholas Goche, Sydney Sekeramayi, David Parirenyatwa and politburo member Sikhanyiso Ndlovu.
Zanu PF holds an elective congress in December 2014 where Mugabe’s successor is likely to emerge. Members of the provincial executive play a pivotal role in the election of members of the presidium.
According to Zanu PF’s constitution, an endorsement for any of the presidium positions which includes the president, first and second vice president and national chairperson, requires six out of 10 provinces.
Mujuru, who has publicly said she was ready to succeed Mugabe, has an edge over Mnangagwa in the current setup.
If Mugabe were to leave office, retire or be incapacitated, Mujuru, according to the new Constitution, will complete Mugabe’s term.
While she can complete Mugabe’s term, the party at either an extraordinary congress or congress, can elect a new leader who might not necessarily be Mujuru.
The provincial chairmen and their executives are key to securing presidential aspirants victory at the congress.
So far there are no concrete indications that the election results in the Midlands, Manicaland and Mashonaland Central will stand.
Monica Mutsvangwa and Larry Mavhima, who both lost controversially in the two polls respectively, have appealed against the outcome.
Mavhima and Dickson Mafios’ grievances are similar, with both complaining that some wards did not vote.
This is the second time that Zanu PF has violated its standing rules guiding the conduct of its elections.
In June, the party held chaotic primary elections which were not completed in one day as stipulated in its rule book.
Zanu PF has been forced to bend its rules to hold staggered elections when traditionally all the elections have been held simultaneously.
COMMENTS
What? Do you want me to cry? No wonder muggersboy vanishes so often to the east!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zanu yakawora kare.
Their political background of being involved in the chimurenga war doesn’t mean that they are the appropriate candidates to lead ZANU PF , they have denied serveral times that they are leading the two factions , they have torn the party into pieces , they are hungry for power , they are sowing conflict into the entire nation which might even cost lifes etc . The two must not be considered as possible successors of Mugabe , Zimbabwe have got young men and women who are very creative , more political advanced compared to these two power hungry leaders , if the president keeps the two on the same positions and let them continue with their ambitions ,then probably we are going to see the complete decline of ZANU PF . Again to say they will have a conference to nominate the successor of Mugabe in December 2014 might be too late following a number of reasons and the major reason among the rest is that Mugabe is too old now to stamp the needed authority among the party ,i suggest they must give him a break at an early stage . A more ludicrous situation will be resulted if anything happens to the president before succession is done , constitutional Mujuru will secure the position but will be facing such a huge pressure from the other faction .
They are all opportunists, they all came into leadership positions in ZANU by accident. Mugabe was very calculative and managed to find himself at the helm following a leadership gap during the armed struggle with the backing of the late Solomon Mujuru. We had visionary leaders who had foresight who were driven by the revolutionary purpose than personal glory like Mugabe and Mnangagwa.
Bringing in of Joice Mujuru in the leadership by Mugabe was an appeasement for the favour Solomon had given to Mugabe. Meanwhile Mugabe made sure all those who were an impediment to his political glory were either sidelined or completely eliminated.In the process he built around him a clique of followers who closely provided intelligence to safeguard his position and thus giving or paying back by appointing them to positions of high offices and authority.
ZANU having lost people like Herbert Chitepo and Josiah Tongogara was never going to be the same again. These visionary leaders were going to make a huge difference to the ZANU many people today have deserted. Mugabe has gone off-course and shifted completely from the major cause of the revolution but has been tactful in convincing the party and remain at the helm. The intra-party conflict is driven by nothing else but POWER. This conflict is not at all informed by the purpose of the long fought protracted armed struggle but by selfishness.
If one is to listen to either Chitepo or Tongogara’s visions, you wish if these leaders had lived to see what it is today. Their speeches were a true reflection of what Zimbabweans need today. Their visions were spread well over a 50 yr period and they were quite relevant to our us today.
People like Mnangagwa and Mugabe didn’t see much of the real armed struggle from a pragmatic point of view and therefore their world view of the struggle were remotely perceived and interpreted, that is driving the struggle from a distance with limited hands-on engagement in the struggle. Zvido zvedu muhondo is not what we see today. We didn’t fight to destroy our own country but to build, to prosper and accord everyone else the opportunity to be who they are.
Revisiting Chitepo and Tongogara’speeches on their visions and purpose of the struggle will make us appreciate why ZANU needs to refocus and remain relevant today.
It is not correct that Mujuru will complete Mugabe’s term if he leaves office before 2018. She will only take over until ZANU PF elects a replacement.
Ngozi iya yokuuraya yaphuka mirai muone zvichaiitika pasina nenguva.
MOST Zimbabweans do not have a choice to be anything else apart from being Zimbabwean. They are Zimbabwean and nothing will take-away their Zimbabweanness; not even the terror, the horror and the dread spread by Robert Mugabe. They are not Zimbabwean by choice but by birth. Mugabe treats Zimbabweans like contents of a sanitary night-bucket that exude the eerie smell associated with organic decay. It seems Mugabe is taking solace from the uncanny knowledge of their allegiance to Zimbabwe to cut their short and miserable lives even shorter and more miserable. He has managed to reduce their pride and their virility to the lowest state ever, turning men into women and women into toys for his games of perverted pleasure.
We do not have a choice to be anything else but weeping, mourning, crying and lamenting Zimbabweans.Chinese businessmen, the fugitives like Mengistu of Ethiopia and others so sacred and so well protected by Mugabe’s claws of insanity. These are the few people who have choices. They could be Zimbabwean only by choice. They have elsewhere to fall back to when the chips go down. We remain without choice when it comes to citizenship. We are stuck in a sinking ship with Mugabe at the helm. We cannot jettison ourselves because we are chained to Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. If we could temporarily break the chains of Mugabe’s Zimbabwean-ness and jump over-board, the cold waters that are infested with hungry sharks would welcome us.
We cannot mutiny as the captain is holding loaded guns onto our heads. We are wretchedly in short of choices. The madding captain of the ship is getting excited. He derives pleasure from our desperation and hopelessness. He surely knows that we deserve better. He knows that we do long for the choice to another choice which has nothing to do with his choice.
We are starved for choices. Still we have no choice!
The one choice we have so far embraced as suffering Zimbabweans is the choice to remain inactive. We have grown so used to suffering and turmoil that we are almost accepting it as the normal way of life. Mugabe is a happy man. He is happy that the people of Zimbabwe are embracing his totalitarian and repressive rule as the normal way of Zimbabwean life. We have been conditioned in the most bizarre way possible.
We remain with our choice to be docile and receptive to torture, murder, poverty, rape of our womenfolk and abuse of our children. In living with our choice to remain loyal to those who cause us to live perilous lives, we have to accept the sad rewards. We cannot openly disagree with Mugabe. We have to treat him like a God-sent angel with tidings of peace and goodwill. We have to silently sulk at our stupidity. Mugabe has extended his largesse to only allow us to fantasise on anything else that has nothing to do with him.
We are allowed to sulk silently. We have the express right to remain silent even when the urge to explode in verbal anger visits us. We are allowed to dream but are forbidden to tell what we dream. We have the right to castles in the air, yet it is a crime to complain about the discomfort in the hovel that you call your home. Our minds conjure up democratic dispensations for our country, yet it is unthinkable to mention such to Mugabe and his lieutenants. We are doomed, condemned, ruined and damned to remain Zimbabweans with no choice but to whinge in total silence.