Mugabe summons Copac chair over ouster allegations

President Robert Mugabe has summoned his party's co-chair to the Constitution Select Committee (Copac) reportedly to explain how a clause that could effectively bar him from standing in future elections passed through a first draft that has just been made public.

The 87-year-old veteran leader has decided to tackle matters on his own as it emerges that he might be fighting a bigger war for survival as fellow Zanu PF party members intensify a plot to oust him.

To get to the bottom of the matter, Mugabe yesterday summoned Copac co-chair Paul Mangwana to report on the controversial retirement clause and other issues such as homosexuality and the land which have torn his party apart.

Mangwana was busy preparing a report to hand over to Mugabe yesterday morning, but the Zanu PF leader also wants verbal answers from him, sources said.

Copac is a parliamentary body driving the crafting of a new constitution. Mangwana co-chairs Copac with Douglas Mwonzora of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC and Edward Mkhosi of the smaller MDC faction.

A source close to the developments confirmed that Mangwana had indeed been summoned for a meeting by the President.

"Mugabe has received a lot of information and I think he wants to whip Mangwana into line over the issue of the 'retirement' clause. The fact that the clause was supported by Zanu PF members of the select committee points to a deliberate effort not to protect Mugabe and that should have got him mad," said one of the sources.

Efforts to obtain a comment from Mangwana failed as he was said to be in a meeting at the time of going to press.

Mugabe's spokesperson George Charamba was also not available for comment as his mobile phone kept cutting off.

A text message to his number went unacknowledged.

The clause that has got Mugabe and his loyalists running scared reads: "A person is disqualified for election as President if he or she has already held office for one or more periods, whether continuous or not, amounting to 10 years."

Mugabe has served as President since 1987 and his loyalists fear it might be used to target him in future elections.

The clause, which passed with the consent of Mugabe's own party members, has caused serious rifts within the former ruling party.

Zanu PF has already endorsed Mugabe as its candidate in the next elections.

Mugabe says he wants the elections this year. But coalition partners insist on the implementation of reforms agreed to under the power sharing Global Political Agreement.

The reforms include the crafting of a new constitution, viewed as a key step towards holding credible elections after the disputed 2008 presidential poll runoff.

Zanu PF has 10 members in the Select Committee, the same number as Tsvangirai's MDC.

Professor Welshman Ncube's MDC formation has two members meaning the party could have argued against the clause but chose to endorse it. So fierce are the fights that Copac has moved meetings from Harare to the eastern resort of Vumba where the Mugabe "retirement clause" will come under fresh debate.

Douglas Mwonzora, the MDC Copac co-chairperson, told the Daily News that the move to Vumba was meant to "secure the lives of co-chairpersons" who are receiving threats as well as "to avoid unnecessary political and media interference".

A source within Copac told the Daily News that the clause and others on homosexuality and the land were discussed in several Select Committee meetings attended by Zanu PF representatives before they were included in the first draft.

"Those clauses were agreed to by all Select Committee members. No one opposed these particular clauses, even members of Zanu PF," said a source.

On Monday, Mangwana's technical advisor Goodwills Masimirembwa walked out of a Copac meeting after members of the Select Committee refused to start the process afresh.

Masimirembwa accused Mangwana of being a "sell-out", a label often reserved for Mugabe's worst enemies.

Recent information suggests that many within his inner cabal support him only in public but secretly are working on ways to force him out.

Secret meetings between Zanu PF and United States diplomats exposed by whistle blower website WikiLeaks suggested that top party members who publicly claim to be Mugabe's biggest backers no longer had confidence in his leadership.

Several high ranking politburo members including, former Information minister and serial political flip flopper, Jonathan Moyo, Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi and Vice President Joice Mujuru met with US diplomats and talked about the possibility of a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe.

Some, such as Moyo who was later described by US diplomats as a "useful messenger", told the diplomats that Mugabe was suffering from throat cancer and was therefore unfit to remain as President.

The actions of these party members forced Mugabe to tell Tsvangirai that he felt betrayed, according to an account of the Prime Minister.

Mugabe, who claims he lost the 2008 election first round voting to Tsvangirai because of divisions within Zanu PF, has previously spoken publicly about this betrayal by people he considered loyal.

During a cross party anti-violence indaba last year, Mugabe warned party officials not to repeat an internal 2008 plot code named "bhora musango".

The plot saw Mugabe getting fewer votes than his MPs and councillors in some areas after officials campaigning on the ground advised supporters to vote for a Zanu PF candidate for the MPs and councillors but not for Mugabe.