via Zanu PF warns rebels – DailyNews Live by Thelma Chiwanha 3 NOVEMBER 2013
Zanu PF has described as rebels, factional leaders who are battling to succeed President Robert Mugabe saying their actions would only see them falling by the wayside.
This comes at a time when the faction-riddled party is facing acute divisions as the race to succeed Mugabe has intensified ahead of an elective congress next year.
So intense are divisions that the party had to postpone provincial elections in eight of the country’s provinces because of alleged vote-rigging and intimidation.
Election results for Midlands province were only announced yesterday where Jason Machaya amassed 13 883 votes against businessman Larry Mavhima who polled 13 380 votes.
Mavhima is a known confidante of Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, who reportedly leads a faction of Zanu PF aiming to replace Mugabe.
The other faction is reportedly led by Vice President Joice Mujuru.
Results for elections held in the Manicaland province a fortnight ago were still not available at the time of going to print.
In an interview with the Daily News on Sunday yesterday, party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo warned members against challenging the party leadership.
“We have some ambitious people who want to challenge party leadership but what is important is what is coming out of the elections,” Gumbo said.
He added that; “We only have one leader President Mugabe followed by vice president Mujuru and Simon Khaya Moyo, the party chairperson. As far as we are concerned, anyone outside that line-up is a rebel trying to create chaos.”
Faction leaders in the party have been trying to manipulate provincial elections as they play a pivotal role in choosing members of the presidium.
An endorsement for any of the presidium positions which includes the president, first and second vice president and national chairperson requires six of 10 provinces.
Insiders say Mugabe, 89, will likely be elected as first secretary but will not contest in the 2018 election, and whoever will be first vice president would take over the reins.
Mnangagwa regarded as Mugabe’s blue-eyed boy is also said to be using all means necessary to champion his campaign.
Gumbo who admitted that there was internal struggle within the 50-year-old movement however said the rebels could be exercising their democratic right but insisted they must do it without undermining the party.
“This is an internal democratic struggle but rest assured the reactionary will fall by the wayside,” Gumbo said.
COMMENTS
Let dog eat dog
AMEN
Where there is a weak civic society and non-governmental organizations to monitor the activities of the government, officials are not afraid of behaving corruptly because they know that nothing will happen to them. Also a weak civil service, a weak rule of law, a partisan judicial system and a weak accounting system leaves room for corruption. Moreover, where there is no strong and independent commission to deal with corruption and to protect whistleblowers, those in power are likely to be corrupt because corruption thrives mostly on monopolized authority minus transparency.
Big time corruption in our modern era exists because public institutions are too many and difficult to supervise. For instance, a large and poorly-paid civil service is likely to be corrupt. In many African countries, the government is the single largest employer with so many departments that duplicate the functions of each other. Civil servants often spend their time doing other things so that they can supplement their meager salaries. When the opportunity to get money arises, they do not hesitate to take bribes so that they can meet their financial woes.
The sale of state-owned property and privatization invites large scale corruption because top officials in government seize the opportunity to buy state property at very low prices. As the economy grows, large and poorly supervised public investments, such as roads, railways, airports, seaports, power stations, dams, government offices, schools and other public investments open doors for getting kickbacks. Also a windfall from exporting abundant mineral resources, often called the ‘resource curse’, encourages corruption. For instance, one Southern African country cannot account for the disappearance of $2 billion raised from its diamond sales.
Probably the single most important factor that brings about corruption is the social conditions in a country. War and other forms of social conflict bring about a breakdown of public security, which in turn catalyzes the conditions for corruption. For instance, the civil war in Somalia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic has brought untold suffering to the wounded souls of the war-torn people. This is exacerbated by the existence of a clan-based social structure that bullies the other ethnic groups. When this is coupled with a dysfunctional economy and low levels of literacy, then there is fertile ground upon which corruption grows like a weed in an abandoned field.
Mujuru has to be the ZANU-PF choice, not only Constitutionally, but Mnangagwa won’t be around. He will be escorted to the Netherlands for his date with destiny. As leader-in-chief of Mugarbage’s death squads, and co-conspirator of the horrendous, self dug open grave massacre of 20,000, he’s a dead man!
As I said in a previous post, all this is banter, ZANU-PF, Mujuru, Moyo, Mnangagwa will be swept out to sea in the New MDC/ZANU/ISO tsunami!