Masvingo, Midlands breeding grounds for factionalism, says Mugabe

President Robert Mugabe says he is considering a leadership reshuffle in Masvingo province following the unabated factional and tribal wars within his Zanu-PF party.

Addressing a Zanu-PF youth league presidential interface in Bindura on Saturday, Mugabe said the fights in the province have reached a boiling point and required urgent attention ahead of next year's crunch polls.

"The issue is the manner in which the province is being run is causing problems, so we had not yet completed this issue (problem solving) even myself, I was still looking at this issue and I said, okay, we should do a reshuffle so that we could iron out our differences," he said .

The President was forced to visit Masvingo province twice this year in a bid to bring warring factions together.

Mugabe said the cause of the antagonism was tribalism, which he said was rife in both Masvingo and the Midlands provinces.

He narrated to the crowd gathered how Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been cited as the problem person in the Midlands since the days of late Vice-President Simon Muzenda.

"So the situation in these two is quite different, the more endemic one, which is crying for solutions, is Masvingo province. In Midlands, they are able to sort themselves out, there are some good performers," he said

Before Mugabe spoke, First Lady Grace Mugabe had also taken aim at the two provinces, describing them as breeding grounds for factionalism.

"Anyone, who wants factionalism issues must pack their bags and go to Midlands and Masvingo, you choose between the two. We don't want to lie to each other here, things are not okay there, and it's not good. Let us solve them," he said.