Source: Grace asked to resume rallies – DailyNews Live
Tendai Kamhungira 29 July 2017
HARARE – The Zanu PF faction rallying behind embattled Vice President
Emmerson Mnangagwa could soon be on the backfoot after it emerged that
powerful First Lady Grace Mugabe has been asked to resume her high-octane
“meet the people” rallies.
Minister of State in Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko’s office Tabetha
Kanengoni Malinga asked Grace to resume her countrywide rallies, as the
ruling party’s ugly battle to succeed President Robert Mugabe gets into
top gear.
“Tiri kukumbirawo interface rally yewomen’s league kuti imimi amai nababa
muuye musanganewo nesu sezviri kuita ma youths (we are requesting that you
conduct the women’s league interface rallies, which you must hold together
with president Mugabe, just like what is happening with the youths),”
Kanengoni Malinga said at a women’s league national assembly meeting on
Thursday.
Grace first rolled out the political gatherings, dubbed meet the people
rallies, soon after she took over as the women’s league boss.
The controversial whirlwind political gatherings were characterised by
acerbic attacks on party officials aligned to Mnangagwa.
The rallies, if they materialise, will come after a surprisingly long
hiatus.
Her no-show on the political ground had sent the rumour mill into
overdrive with all kinds of theories, including claims by some in Zanu PF
that Mugabe had moved to stop the rallies because they were serving no
useful purpose but fuelling internal party strife.
Some party officials aligned to Mnangagwa claimed Mugabe had himself put
the brakes on Grace’s rallies after becoming exasperated by the heightened
in-fighting her allies were causing.
They claimed Mugabe met with her outside the country in the aftermath of
her rally in Rushinga and ordered her to cancel all rallies she had lined
up.
The latest wave of rallies, if they materialise, will take place at a time
Mugabe has proposed the idea of appointing a third vice president, a
position many believe could be reserved for Grace, with a possibility of
even taking over from her husband.
But Grace has previously vehemently denied having presidential ambitions,
insisting that she was satisfied with her position as women’s league boss.
Claims by officials aligned to Mnangagwa – who is accused of seeking to
stampede Mugabe from power by Zanu PF Young Turks opposed to his
presidential ambitions, the Generation 40 (G40) – suggested that the
nonagenarian had put the brakes on Grace’s rallies after becoming
infuriated by the intensified in-fighting her rallies were allegedly
causing.
Mugabe, during the women’s league meeting, attacked securocrats, warning
them against meddling in party politics. The army has been suspected of
supporting Mnangagwa’s presidential ambitions.
These new political dynamics, coming as Grace has asked her husband to
anoint a successor, are set to make the rallies explosive.
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