Mphoko, where is he?

Conflicting reports have emerged as to Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko's whereabouts with some claiming he is under house arrest in Chinhoyi and others saying he has tried to flee the country.

The latter reports say he flew to Japan after attending Tuesday's cabinet meeting.

Mphoko was yesterday fired from Zanu PF by a not properly constituted Zanu PF Disciplinary Committee meeting. Central Committee Patrick Chinamasa said Mphoko was part of the G40 cabal which disturbed the party.

Mphoko, the president's nephew Patrick Zhuwao (public service minister) and foreign affairs minister Walter Mzembi are other members of the G40 faction strongly opposing the sacking of former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa - which ignited the crisis.

The president's wife Grace Mugabe has disappeared with no confirmed reports of where she currently is.

Her G40 faction comprises prominent Zimbabweans including higher education minister Jonathan Moyo and his local government counterpart Saviour Kasukuwere.

Mzembi is also outside the country, while Zhuwao is reportedly holed up somewhere outside Zimbabwe.
 
Mphoko was appointed as vice President of Zimbabwe in 2014 after John Nkomo, the previous vice president, died while in office.

Some of the party members belonging to the G40 fired from the party are Jonathan Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere, Ignatias Chombo, Kudzanayi Chpanga, Annastansia Ndlovu amopng many others.

Mphoko is being hounded for citing part of the agreement Mugabe had with late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo in 1987.

"We agreed way back that Zanu PF and PF Zapu should not swallow each other. We said when Zapu is in leadership a person from Zanu PF should deputise him or her and vice versa," Mphoko said.

Phelekezela Mphoko said in a subtle message to Zanu PF supporters in Bulaway o that President Robert Mugabe must sort out the mess he has created in the country before handing over power to a successor.

Mphoko told a Zanu-PF inter-district meeting that Mugabe should be mature enough to understand that he was as much of a solution as he was the problem.

Zimbabwe has literally come to an economic standstill as Zanu PF leaders engage in a brutal power scrap over the 93-year-old's successor.

The Zanu PF leader is battling old age and illness which he continues to deny, despite unending trips to the Far East that his handlers claim are for a recurring eye problem.

While the succession issue has been taboo in Zanu PF over the years, with many having lost their political lives after broaching it, First Lady Grace Mugabe set the cat among the pigeons two weeks ago after she demanded that her ailing husband anoints a successor.
 
Grace said she had been battling with Mugabe over the issue and wanted the public to know.

Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, with support from sections of the security establishment, war veterans and a faction known as Team Lacoste, has been touted as a frontrunner.

On the other hand, Grace and other Young Turks have coalesced around a group known as G40 that has of late begun to push for the anointment of Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi.