Mugabe is supreme says Gumbo

Senior Zanu-PF officials are powerless to prevent President Robert Mugabe over-riding the party's rules in the appointment of his wife to the top position in the Women's League and a seat on the central committee and politburo.

Mugabe is the supreme leader of Zanu-PF and no one can oppose his line of thinking, Rugare Gumbo, Zanu-PF spokesperson told The Zimbabwean this week.

"Unoda kuti ndipikise zvarehwa nevakuru? Zvinenge zvataurwa nevakuru hazvipikiswe. (Do you want me to dispute a position taken by higher offices? What high offices say stands)," said Gumbo.


Asked if Mugabe's position was not against Zanu-PF guidelines regarding electoral processes, Gumbo insisted that Mugabe was the supreme decision maker and would get his way.

Mugabe recently set a tone meant to silence party officials opposed to the ascendency of his wife, Grace, to the helm of the Women's League - despite the party's regulations that no one could occupy an office in the Central Committee, Youth or Women's League without having served the party for 15 consecutive years.

She was also nominated to the Central Committee by the Harare province, despite note meeting the basic requirements for one to occupy such high office. Her rise to power has been described by observers as Mugabe's strategy to scupper both Joice Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa's ambitions for the presidency.

"If she assumes power, Grace would mainly protect the first family's ill-gotten wealth when Mugabe is gone," said a politburo member on condition of anonymity.

On his arrival from China last weekend, Mugabe took a swipe at the Zanu-PF Harare provincial structures for attempting to push Grace out of the province. The attacks were targeted at Shadreck Mashayamombe, the party provincial commissar and MP for Harare South, who reportedly asked Patrick Zhuwao to help relocate Grace to Mashonaland West, as she was not a party member in Harare.

Mugabe vowed to hold an urgent politburo meeting to settle the Grace issue once and for all, saying: "I have the mandate to resolve issues not only at the main wing but in the Youth and Women's league as well."

The first lady's unexpected rise to power and proposals that her son, Chatunga, should lead the Youth League has sent fears around the nation that a Mugabe family dynasty could be in the making.