Mugabe losing grip on Zanu-PF

Repeated desperate efforts by President Robert Mugabe to put a stop to the post congress Zanu-PF's brutal factional and succession wars including his issuance of suspect gag orders, have not stopped the party's bigwigs from continuing to savage each other violently.

And amid all this the ruling party's spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said yesterday that the confusing vote of no confidence that are being passed by members around the country willy-nilly will be upheld as long as they are constitutional.

Meanwhile, the outgoing United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Bruce Wharton has said President Robert Mugabe must learn to follow the law on electoral issues although polls are never perfect.

In a farewell discussion in which he answered questions from ordinary people and the youth in Harare, Wharton urged government to shift its focus from sanctions to the economy.

He dismissed claims that the US sanctions have constrained the country's economic recovery arguing that the meltdown was never a result of sanctions and that America continues to trade with Zimbabwe.