Mugabe, Zanu-PF 'are gone' says Dongo

Firebrand war veteran and former Zanu-PF bigwig Margaret Dongo says President Robert Mugabe and the governing party are "finished", pointing to the former liberation movement's brutal factional and succession wars, as well as the increasingly-frail nonagenarian's grim determination to hold onto power as evidence of this.

The fearless Dongo, who turned 56 yesterday, said the ugly ructions that were devouring the ruling party marked the end of an era and were all a consequence of Mugabe's fatal love for power.

Meanwhile, former war veterans' leader Jabulani Sibanda yesterday vowed he will make sure President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF lose the 2018 election.

This came as war veterans were reportedly plotting to doorstep and remove Mugabe as their patron at their next meeting, accusing the veteran politician of failing to represent their interests.

According to well-placed sources in the war veterans' camp, the freedom fighters were pushing for an urgent meeting with the veteran politician, where they will tell him they no longer had confidence in his leadership following the relentless attacks by him and his wife First Lady Grace Mugabe on war veterans.
 
A faction of the ruling party led by First Lady Grace Mugabe, known as Generation-40 (G40), wants to "frighten" President Robert Mugabe out of his intended meeting with veterans of the liberation struggle, former War Veterans minister Christopher Mutsvangwa claimed yesterday.

The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA) leader's claim came as it emerged that his predecessor Jabulani Sibanda had indeed been offered a ministerial position as bait to rejoin Zanu-PF.

Mutsvangwa, who lost his Cabinet position two weeks ago in the aftermath of his three-year suspension from Zanu-PF for allegedly undermining Mugabe, called on his party tormentors to "leave me alone".