Mugabe keeps Zanu-PF guessing

President Robert Mugabe is keeping his loyalists on tenterhooks as he delays replacing the ministers he fired following a brutal purge, triggered frenzied jostling in his divided Zanu-PF.

The party's merciless purges have claimed 17 ministers and deputies linked to former VP Joice Mujuru, although there are some ministers linked to Mujuru who are still in government.

With the Constitution limiting Mugabe to appointing ministers from a pool of legislators in Parliament, the nonagenarian is presently limited to pick from those who were either elected during 2013 or he appointed.

Mugabe might be forced to bring back some of the fired deputies who have thus far demonstrated unbridled loyalty to him and his increasingly powerful wife Grace.

Mugabe has kept those accused of belonging to the Mujuru faction guessing and on the other hand the VP Emmerson Mnangagwa's camp is keen on ensuring that they benefit from the reshuffle through appointment to influential posts.