Gono to become new Zanu PF face

HARARE - Former central bank governor, Gideon Gono, is set to rejuvenate and re-brand Zanu PF, as the party is all but now set to split or collapse due to President Robert Mugabe's succession war between factions aligned to Vice President, Joice Mujuru and justice minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa, The Telescope News, can reveal.

Gono's golden opportunity has not come overnight, as the final installment of his shock takeover of the former liberation movement, by our editor in Germany this Friday shall reveal.

The Telescope News, has been the first Zimbabwean publication to bring to light hitherto mysterious disclosures, about Gono's secret preparations to lift Zanu PF from the ashes and become it's first secretary and president, according to a close aide of the banker, who ironically also worked for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

Gono came to political stardom, when Mugabe appointed him central banker in November 2003, touting him as "my new broom", to bring sanity to the country's economic mayhem at the time. The aspiring senator for Buhera stepped down from his influential post on 30 November 2013 after a 10 year stint.

"Unfortunately investigative journalism is no longer thriving in Zimbabwe, otherwise this story could have been published a long time ago," said the aide. "Gono became Mugabe's personal banker, friend, and protege around in 1987, when he was working as a finance manager, at the Zimbabwe Development Bank. This is the time he started grooming him, for he knew Zanu PF would not last in power forever, but would need a strong and intelligent Pan-African leader, to quickly rise to back into power. Gono is his answer."

The aide also made the stunning revelation, that the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and military's Joint Operations Command (JOC), are working closely together on the Gono plan, as a political intelligence report produced in 2011 suggested that Zanu PF will lose power to the opposition before 2018.

"The CIO and JOC in Zimbabwe, are our very own Pentagon," he said drawing parallels with the United States Department of Defense in Virginia. "The people running these organisations know that, a new government will usher in new green-horn appointees to replace them, and because they don't want to be out of power and lose out on State patronage, enjoyed for over 30 years, their ultimate plan is to use Gono to crash any opposition party likely to be elected to head a new Zimbabwe without Mugabe and Zanu PF. They don't want the opposition, to last more than 5 years in power. I have just disclosed a top secret."

Zanu PF is surely headed for a split, as Mujuru and Mnangagwa's skirmishes to replace Mugabe intensify, observers say.