Mnangagwa in a tight spot

President Robert Mugabe finds himself between a rock and a hard place after Zanu-PF members opposed to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeding him agitated yesterday for a firm timetable on the appointment of a woman to the ruling party's presidium.

This means that Mugabe is now under severe pressure to ensure that one of his two deputies is a woman, a move which insiders say is "a fait accompli" (done deal) which is likely to see Mnangagwa demoted to a lower position — and which in turn would blight the Midlands godfather's chances of becoming the next Zanu-PF leader.

Well-placed sources who spoke to the Daily News on Sunday yesterday said the Zanu-PF women's league, backed by the party's     ambitious Young Turks known as the Generation 40, had successfully pushed the former liberation movement to adopt 50-50 gender representation in all its power structures.

First Lady Grace Mugabe — who is being nudged by her growing legion of party supporters to be the female presidium representative — had apparently been the first one to formally present the women's league resolution in a closed door meeting of the conference, albeit in "a roundabout manner".

Not satisfied with the lack of clarity on the crucial matter, the league's vice chairperson, Sandi Moyo, intervened immediately, asking another league member "to make the demand more forcefully".

"The first lady put across the message modestly and Mai Sandi Moyo then asked Beater Nyamupinga to resolutely announce the women's resolutions, which included a clear message for the president to give a timeline on when he would appoint the female VP," the reliable source said.

Another source corroborated this saying the influential women's league wanted Mugabe to announce "clearly the date, time frame and process" of how this resolution would be implemented.

Amid fears that the warring party factions could clash at the conference, police tried their level best to maintain law and order — mounting myriad roadblocks along the roads leading to the venue of the get-together.

Still, it was later revealed that Gokwe-Nembudziya legislator Justice Mayor Wadyajena had been reported to the police for allegedly abusing Kadoma businessman Jimayi Muduvuri — as factional tensions raged.

With the majority in Zanu-PF now in favour of a return of the women's quota system in the party which was expediently discarded late last year as former Vice President Joice Mujuru was being hounded out of the party on untested allegations of plotting to oust and kill Mugabe, an insider said Mnangagwa was "in a spot of bother".

However, others who spoke to the Daily News on Sunday's sister paper, the Daily News, last week said the VP's supporters were plotting to turn the tables on their party enemies who were agitating for the return of the women's quota by agreeing to its re-introduction as long as this would benefit former-PF Zapu cadres.

Zimbabwe National War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) Mashonaland West provincial chairperson, Cornelius Muwoni, confirmed this, saying his organisation was not opposed to a woman vice president being appointed to be one of Mugabe's deputies, but would want that this be done on a rotational basis to accommodate former Zapu cadres.

"As war veterans, we support equality between men and women, so we have no problems with a woman from the party being one of the vice presidents.

"We would however, want that to be done on a rotational basis to also include Zapu, seeing that when it was first introduced it benefitted a Zanu cadre in Joice Mujuru. So, it only makes sense that this time, should it be returned, it should also benefit the other side," Muwoni said.

This thinking was shared by former Zipra cadre Zenzo Ncube, a member of ZNLWVA's council of elders, who argued that if war veterans had allowed a takeover of the leadership of the association by Christopher Mutsvangwa from the executive led by former Zapu cadre Jabulani Sibanda, it was only fair that this arrangement be followed for the party's vice presidency.

"We are currently discussing the issue as former Zapu cadres. We want to come up with a preferred candidate for the position should it (the proposal) sail through," Ncube said.

All this is designed to ensure that Team Lacoste, as the Mnangagwa camp is referred to by its members, neutralises Grace, the G4O and Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko — thus keeping Mnangagwa as one of the party's two deputies, and therefore well-positioned to succeed Mugabe.

Further to this, Team Lacoste is said to be pushing Mugabe to make changes to the party's leadership, with war veterans in particular calling for the ouster of national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere —  arguing that he is supposedly divisive, in addition to lacking liberation struggle credentials.

In addition, the restive war veterans also want their own to monopolise the posts for lands and security in the politburo.
On the other hand, the G40 wants War veterans minister Mutsvangwa axed from his post as war veterans chairperson and be replaced by Patrick Nyaruwata.