Grace and Robert Mugabe illness 'collapses' Zanu-PF

BULAWAYO SOUTH MDC-T legislator Eddie Cross has said the deteriorating health of President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace has left a deadly power vacuum in Zanu-PF and the absence of any planned and managed succession has led to the party collapse.

Mugabe is said to be feeling the effects of old age, while Grace is said to be suffering from a colon cancer, developments that Cross said had thrown Zanu-PF into a crisis.

"Unlike 2008, we now have a full blown political crisis in that the party in power and holds a two thirds majority in Parliament has disintegrated," he said.

"The deterioration in the health of our ageing president has left a power vacuum at the top of the party and in the absence of any planned and managed succession, a struggle for power has ensued which has torn Zanu-PF apart. Grace Mugabe, the president's wife, who is very much responsible for the chaos in the party has suddenly fallen ill and it looks very serious."

Grace, who dominated Zimbabwe's political scene late last year soon after being nominated to lead the Zanu-PF women's league, has not made a public appearance since March 8, when she officiated at International Women's Day commemorations.