Mujuru not rejoining Zanu-PF

Former vice president and National People's Party (NPP) leader Joice Mujuru has said she is not re-joining Zanu-PF, following claims that she was on her way back to the ruling party.

Speaking on the sidelines of victory celebrations for Zanu-PF councillor Kidwell Mujuru - who won Bulawayo's  only council seat in a recent by-election in Cowdray Park - Zanu-PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu, said Mujuru was re-joining the party.

"The President of our party wants everybody in Zanu-PF and he has called for all the former members who broke away for whatever reason to come back into the fold of the party and be part of our new dispensation," said Mpofu is quoted as having said.

The former Home Affairs Minister, now permanently working at Zanu-PF headquarters as part of a new set-up since Mnangagwa took over from former President Robert Mugabe in the aftermath of the November 2017 coup reportedly added: "I am aware of comrades who have indicated that they would like to come back, Mai Mujuru is one of them and her party (NPP). Ambrose Mutinhiri is already back in the party.

"We have others that have approached us recently indicating their willingness to come."

Mujuru left Zanu-PF in a huff late 2014, after a series of rallies addressed by then First Lady Grace Mugabe, at which she was accused of an elaborate plot "kill Mugabe."

FORMER Zanu-PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and ex-Mashonaland East provincial Minister Ambrose Mutinhiri have confirmed they are retracing their steps back to the ruling party, after brief but unfruitful flirtations with opposition politics.

Mutasa was kicked out of Zanu-PF, at the same time as then Vice President Joice Mujuru in the mayhem that characterised the former guerrilla movement ahead of the 2014 congress. An attempt at opposing Zanu-PF through the Zimbabwe People First party suffered a still-birth after members of the ‘Gamatox' group, as the Mujuru faction was commonly referred to, turned on each other and broke into two before everything fizzled out.

Mutasa Sunday confirmed he was back.

"It happened a long time ago. I have been back in the party for sometime now, unless they expel me again.

"In the first place I never resigned," the straight talking Mutasa said.

Asked if he has been able to set foot at Zanu-PF headquarters, Mutasa retorted: "That headquarters is there because of me. Of course I have been there."

When Mnangagwa was fired by Mugabe November 6, 2017, Mutasa rubbed it in, arguing the then Vice President who later returned to take over power on the back of a military coup only three weeks later, was the "author of his own problems."

"I have got a soft heart for everybody, not only Mnangagwa but anybody who is treated unfairly. However, in this case I don't think Mnangagwa was treated unfairly," Mutasa reportedly said then.

He added that Mnangagwa had "popped champagne" when the Mujuru group that included him as secretary for administration in the ruling party had been sacked.

Mutinhiri, a career soldier, left Zanu-PF in the aftermath of the 2017 coup. He met former President Robert Mugabe early last year and was anointed interim leader of a loose coalition of individuals known as the National Patriotic Front initially known as the G40 faction of Zanu-PF, that was bitterly opposed to Mnangagwa's rise to power.

However, Mutinhiri performed dismally in the presidential election in which he was a candidate. The former Mashonaland East provincial Minister, in a short response, also confirmed he was rejoining Zanu-PF.

"Yes it is true," was all Mutinhiri could say when contacted for comment.

On the other hand, former Vice President Joice Mujuru who according to State media is among former Zanu-PF senior making their way back, was not immediately available for comment.

A facebook character claiming to be the war heroine dismissed the claims.

"I will never rejoin Zanu-PF. I am not that desperate. There is my son to support. He is the president. The only way forward is forward not backwards," the character said in a post.

Mujuru has in the past referred to MDC leader Nelson Chamisa as her son. However, the two failed to agree on a coalition ahead of elections last year and all took part as candidates in which  the former Vice President scrapped a tiny vote. Chamisa has consistently claimed he won last year's presidential election only for Mnangagwa to rig his way to power.