Grace Mugabe, youths craft Mnangagwa final push

Zanu-PF's youth and women's leagues have stepped up their campaign to push out Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa and have him replaced by a female candidate, amid reports the two party structures were planning to hold crunch meetings next week to set the ball rolling for an extraordinary congress.

Party insiders told NewsDay that First Lady Grace Mugabe and Senate President Edna Madzongwe's names were being mentioned, as potentials to replace Mnangagwa under the guise of seeking gender parity.

Contacted for comment, Zanu-PF commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday said the party would be guided by its constitution.

"We always follow the constitution of the party," he said, without elaborating further.

Women's league deputy secretary, Eunice Sandi-Moyo declined to comment on the matter, saying: "If your source told you that, then why are you asking me? You want me to confirm what your sources have told you? Why don't you ask your sources to clarify?"

Knives have long been out for Mnangagwa, who is accused of leading Team Lacoste, a faction that is reportedly campaigning for him to replace President Robert Mugabe, an accusation the Vice-President has
denied.

Mnangagwa landed the Vice-Presidency at the party's 2014 congress. Zanu-PF's next congress is due in 2019, a year after the crunch 2018 elections, which Mugabe has already expressed interest to contest.

A source revealed calls for an extraordinary congress would soon be made by several provinces.

"The congress will be pushed by provinces, as provided for under article 26(1c) of the (Zanu-PF) constitution," the source said.

"The youth and women's leagues are critical players in this strategy. Soon, they will be convening meetings at national level and afterwards their resolutions will cascade down to provincial structures. Their resolutions will be used to mobilise the lower structures in calling for an early congress."

Quizzed over the feasibility of such a plot, a top Zanu-PF official, who declined to be named for security reasons, said the resolutions will be coming as a directive and provincial executives will be forced to abide by the orders.

"That will be a directive and you know how we deal with directives in Zanu-PF. The resolutions will be implemented as they are," the official said.

"What we are only looking forward to, at the moment, is to first have a resolution, then buy-in will not be a problem."

Section 26 of the Zanu-PF constitution provides that an early congress may be convened "wherever it is deemed necessary and at the instance of: (a) the majority of the members of the central committee; or (b) the President and first secretary, at the instance of not less than one-third of members of the central committee; or (c) the President and first secretary, at the instance of at least five provincial executive councils by resolutions to that effect".

Already, some youth leaders and war veterans have implored the party to call for a special congress that will decisively decimate Mnangagwa's faction and his ambitions to succeed Mugabe.

Addressing war veterans recently at the Zanu-PF headquarters in Harare, Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Mandiitawepi Chimene said an early congress was the panacea to the Zanu-PF succession wars.

She singled out Mnangagwa, as the source of problems rocking Zanu-PF and cited a litany of allegations against him.
Another Zanu-PF source said a motion for Mnangagwa's ouster would be kickstarted in the coming weeks, so that all necessary procedures are met.

"Because section 28 gives a timeframe and circumstances for the holding of an extraordinary congress, it is prudent that the motion moves now so that by December, all procedures would have been met," the source said.

"The President, after receiving the resolution, has to forward it to the secretary for administration (Ignatius Chombo), who has six weeks to give notice of the said session."

The latest anti-Mnangagwa campaign comes after the women's league failed last year to push through a resolution for the appointment of a female Vice-President.

Since his appointment as Vice-President in 2013, Mnangagwa has fought numerous internal battles to save his job, as senior party officials, including Grace, have publicly accused him of clandestinely plotting Mugabe's ouster.