Mnangagwa outflanks Grace Mugabe

ZANU-PF Masvingo provincial executive is reportedly set to be the first to endorse Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa as President Robert Mugabe's official number two ahead of the party's December conference, NewsDay reported.

The publication claims that party insiders yesterday said that officials loyal to Mnangagwa were not leaving anything to chance and were using the current district restructuring exercises to pass resolutions to be presented at the annual conference to be held in Victoria Falls.

An official said the resolutions passed during the inter-district meetings were unanimous that Mnangagwa was number two in the Zanu-PF pecking order and that anyone in the province opposed to this position had no place in the ruling party structures.

He said a provincial co-ordinating committee (PCC) meeting has been called for this Saturday to finalise and endorse the resolutions passed by the districts for presentation during the December 7 to 13 conference.

The Saturday meeting will endorse the presidium, with Mugabe at the top, Mnangagwa second and Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko third.

"Masvingo province will vociferously reject the imposition of other candidates who are not in the presidium to threaten to override Mugabe's deputies," another source said.