Reports of heightening Zanu PF power struggles resurfaced this week in the wake of Mugabe's latest condemnation of senior party officials over their clandestine bids to succeed him. Addressing thousands of supporters at a rally on Thursday in Mount Darwin, about 160km northeast of Harare, Mugabe said people were free to openly discuss his succession, but party functionaries should stop covert campaigns to take over. Last month Mugabe, for the first time, declared his succession debate open, but denounced party leaders who organised themselves along "ethnic and personal lines". He also indicated that his retirement could be near.
| "Yep. The money's just about all gone... Wait! There's some..." |
Retired army general Solomon Mujuru, Zanu PF secretary for administration and Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa, and Information Minister Jonathan Moyo are leading the fight for Mugabe's throne. Political analyst Ibbo Mandaza, who is closely linked with Zanu PF, said Mugabe's statements on his succession indicated that he was about to retire. He added that it would be helpful if Mugabe laid out the rules for choosing his successor.
| "Rules: Whoever's left standing when the shootin's over gets to be king... uh, president. That's always been the Zim-Bob-Way." |
As long as there was no official debate on the issue "speculation, anxiety and even division will persist", Mandaza said. Although Mugabe claims he has no problem with leaders who declare their presidential ambitions, he has in the past sidelined those who have shown that they want to succeed him. One such example was Zanu PF maverick Eddison Zvobgo, at one time seen as the most likely Mugabe successor, who was thrown into a volcano sidelined for stating that he wanted Mugabe's job. Mandaza, a former senior civil servant, said that without official endorsement, Mugabe's potential successors in the ruling party would not come out in the open.
| Show your head, somebody'll try and take it off... |
As if to confirm this, Zanu PF chairman John Nkomo, also considered a potential Mugabe successor, refused to talk about the issue when contacted about it. The secretary-general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Welshman Ncube, said Mugabe's remarks indicated he was getting increasingly paranoid about developments within his party. "He should simply say he wants to resign so that the country can move on. He is the biggest stumbling block to progress," Ncube said.
| Unfortunately, most of his potential successors are the next biggest stumbling blocks... |
Mandaza, claiming that the next president would come from Zanu PF and not the MDC, said the succession race was wide open. He named Mnangagwa in Midlands province, Nkomo and former Home Affairs Minister Dumiso Dabengwa in Matabeleland, Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo in Mashonaland West, former Finance Minister Simba Makoni in Manicaland and Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge in Masvingo as potential successors. He said Moyo, despite his posturing, was "too low in the ranks" to be a candidate. |