Mugabe to stamp his authority to end Zanu-PF infighting

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe will stamp his authority in Zanu-PF to end defiance and public spats between his top lieutenants who are fighting over the on-going provincial elections, it has emerged.

This comes in the wake of reports of intensifying fights in the party as different factions position themselves for the eventual succession of 89-year-old Mugabe.

One faction is said to be linked to Vice-President Joice Mujuru and another one reportedly loyal to Justice Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa. But Mnangagwa is now said to have joined a new faction dubbed Mugabe Five Year Team whose members include Zimbabwe Defence Force commander, Constantine Chiwenga, Local Government minister, Ignatious Chombo and Finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa and is aimed at ensuring Mugabe completes his term of office.

Sources said Mugabe was angry at not being officially informed of the election results particularly in Mashonaland Central where officials allegedly rushed to announce the outcome of the polls before briefing him first.

"Mugabe only got to know of the Mashonaland Central results on television, yet all the other members of the presidium were briefed before. Protocol requires that Mugaacbe must be briefed before an issue becomes public," said an official close to the party.

He said Mugabe had also not been informed of a new committee set up to supervise the remaining elections in seven provinces.

The committee is chaired by Vice-President Joice Mujuru and comprises Zanu-PF national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo, secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa and national commissar, Webster Shamu.

"The reading we are getting from the President [Mugabe] is that elections must be stopped so that sanity and order are restored," said the official. "Moreover these committee members are an interested part."

But he said the committee was going ahead preparing for the elections.

"To us this is again an open defiance of Mugabe. It appears that there is a rush to conclude the elections before the President returns from Asia on 24 November so that he will come back to only endorse the outcome," said the official.

But a Politburo member linked to the Mujuru faction said elections could not be stopped just because of the absence of Mugabe.

"Zanu-PF does not belong to one individual," quipped the Politburo member.

He said Mugabe's decision to swear in former Attorney-General, Johannes Tomana as the new Prosecutor-General, just before he left the country last week, was part of his strategy to rein in errant and corrupt leaders.

"Some of the officials including cabinet ministers might not be with us at next month's national people's conference as they face arrest for various crimes," said the official.

He said Mugabe often joked during politburo and cabinet meetings that officials who defy him should consider forming their own parties, meaning that he could be serious about the issue.

Other sources said the provincial elections have also seen a serious clash between the Zanu-PF commissariat department led by retired Air Vice-Marshal Henry Muchena and some party bigwigs. An official said Muchena was resisting attempts by some bigwigs to bar certain popular individuals from contesting.