Mnangagwa side-lines Jonathan Moyo, Kasukuwere

The four senior Zanu-PF strategists largely responsible for the political demise of former Vice President Joice Mujuru and her supporters have been side-lined by the new Vice President. The so-called Gang of Four (G4) - Jonathan Moyo, Patrick Zhuwawo, President Robert Mugabe's nephew, Saviour Kasukuwere and Oppah Muchinguri - faces relegation to the political wilderness - despite their energetic efforts to destroy Joice Mujuru.

The G4 is said to have closely worked with VP Emmerson Mnangagwa in the power struggle that preceded the congress, but he is said to mistrust them. Moyo, the current information minister, is likely to lose his post and be given an inferior cabinet position in an impending reshuffle.

He is reported to have already fallen out with Mnangagwa, whom he has described as "not Mugabe's anointed successor", and was relegated to the Politburo position of science and technology, the third least important.

Senior Zanu-PF sources told The Zimbabwean this week that Mnangagwa did not like Kasukuwere, who was made political commissar at the 2014 congress.

A loose cannon

"Ngwena (alias for Mnangagwa) thinks Tyson (Kasukuwere) is a loose cannon. They have been working closely but he does not trust him. Mnangagwa managed to convince Mugabe to give Kasukuwere the national commissar's post, but that is a way of sacrificing the young minister," said one of the sources.

The post is considered in Zanu-PF to be a hot potato. Two pProminent party members who held the post of national commissar in the past two decades, Border Gezi and Elliot Manyika, died under questionable circumstances.

Webster Shamu, whom Kasukuwere replaced last year, survived because he did not court controversy, according to the source. "Shamu knew that the post is dangerous and he did his best not to step on powerful people's toes. That is why he survived. He did not make controversial reshuffles and kept clean," he said.

Mugabe rapped Shamu, who has been linked to the Mujuru camp, for failing to properly restructure the party organs and performing dismally in the recruitment drive.

"Mnangagwa knows that Kasukuwere and Moyo have presidential ambitions and is uncomfortable working with them. In the case of Kasukuwere, he is happy that the young man was given that post because he is likely to make mistakes and face the consequences," said another Zanu-PF member.

Kasukuwere seems to have gotten off to a bad start when he announced that one of the purged senior members, Didymus Mutasa, would be ejected at a recent politburo meeting.

The politburo failed to do that but set up a disciplinary committee to try Mutasa, who is spear-heading a legal campaign to reverse the outcome of the congress that he and other senior members insist was illegal.

Despite being Mugabe's nephew and writing many opinion articles against the Mujuru camp and in support of his uncle's wife, Grace, Zhuwawo, a former cabinet minister, did not land any significant post at the congress.

Mnangagwa reportedly considers him a rebel and Zhuwawo's situation was worsened by the fact that neither Mugabe nor his wife have forgiven him for privately calling on the president to step down and make way for young blood several years ago.

Muchinguri is the only member of the group who participated in the war of liberation and even though she has been linked to Mnangagwa for a long time, sources said he considered her nothing but a handy tool. Grace is also said to detest her.

Party spokesperson, Simon Khaya Moyo, was not responding to calls.