'I was never part of the Mujuru camp'

Former Zanu-PF politburo member Cephas Msipa, says he will never associate himself with former Vice President Joice Mujuru's cabal that harbours intentions to remove President Mugabe from power.

He was responding to reports that he was part of the Dr Mujuru's cabal in the province who were regrouping and holding secret meetings.

Sources had said Msipa, Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Jaison Machaya and former politburo members Tendai Savanhu and Rugare Gumbo were convening secret meetings and vote-buying to court the electorate for the benefit of the Mujuru camp ahead of the party's district elections scheduled for March.

But Msipa said: "I have never associated with people who want to remove President Mugabe and I will never do that.

"I am very disappointed that some people think that for them to be elevated they have to pull others down. If there are people who are working on a strategy to remove President Mugabe, I am not one of them.

"In fact, I last spoke to Mujuru before the Congress. Machaya is a personal friend and he is my minister in the province. Remember he took over from me. I have a lot of respect for him as my minister."

Msipa said they supported Dr Mujuru during her tenure as Vice President and not in her personal capacity.

"The people, I associated with who supported Mujuru did so because she was Vice President.

"We could not claim that we supported President Mugabe if we did not support his appointee," said Msipa.

There is evidence that the Mujuru cabal is regrouping and has since adopted a four-pronged approach to take over power from President Mugabe.

Some of the strategies are litigation, fighting from within, re-engaging President Mugabe or forming a splinter political party.