'Mujuru has been misled,' says Zanu-PF senior official

War veteran and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Christopher Mutsvangwa says Zanu-PF has been hijacked by counter-revolutionary elements that have no grasp of the revolutionary ideology that won the protracted war of independence.

Ambassador Mutsvangwa, who was speaking on the ZBC Current Affairs programme, Media Watch, said Vice President Joice Mujuru has been misled by a number of hangers-on who surround her and are bent on destroying the legacy of the liberation struggle as they were alien to the prosecution of the revolution.

He singled out the Zanu-PF national spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo and Secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa for stampeding Dr Mujuru to challenge President Robert Mugabe at congress saying their actions are counter-revolutionary and come as no surprise given their historical background.

Responding to the statements, Gumbo said Ambassador Mutsvangwa is too junior to talk about his history and the party as he only joined the revolutionary struggle at its tail end.

Ambassador Mutsvangwa, who maintains he joined the struggle at a critical stage in 1973, however, says the machinations by elements pushing for the rise of Dr Mujuru will be dealt with at the forthcoming congress to be held in Harare from the 2nd to the 7th of next month.

The revolutionary party has been rocked by issues of factionalism over the past weeks, but the party's First Secretary and President Cde Robert Mugabe has said there are procedures to be followed, hinting the issue will be put to rest at congress.