'Mutasa implicates Mujuru'

EMBATTLED former Zanu-PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa has, through his utterances since being fired from the government, implicated ex-Vice President Joice Mujuru in the plot to subvert the authority of, and depose President Mugabe.

Mutasa, who is in India where his wife is receiving treatment, has become the Mujuru cabal's spokesperson where, in all interviews and in his correspondence to Sadc and the African Union, he uses the inclusive pronoun "we'' implying he speaks for several people.

Despite congratulating the leadership elected at Congress, and announcing that she had accepted her fate as a card-carrying member of Zanu-PF, Mujuru has not distanced herself from Mutasa's utterances leaving observers to say her silence implied complicity.

Mutasa has lobbied South African president Jacob Zuma, and has also written to Sadc seeking support to be reinstated to his former positions in the party and government.

He also seeks the reversal of constitutional amendments passed by the Zanu-PF Politburo ahead of Congress, a development analysts described as all that transpired has been endorsed by the party's constitutional organs principally the Central Committee.

Political analysts yesterday said in the interviews Mutasa has granted to the private media and the letter to Sadc, he spoke in the plural, "we" showing that he was speaking for the Mujuru cabal.

In the letter he wrote to Sadc, whose chair is President Mugabe, Mutasa made several claims at variance with the truth.

"We refuse to be expelled from Zanu-PF. We've sacrificed too much over five decades, to be forced out on the basis of completely fabricated allegations.

"We demand the restoration of the principle of 'one man, one vote' to the constitution of Zanu-PF. The recent amendments adopted at the 6th Congress surrender all votes to the President. It's a violation of the supreme law of the Republic of Zimbabwe and therefore invalidates all binding decisions taken at the 6th Congress.

"By implication, we demand that the Party immediately re-establish the exact constitutional, operational and procedural principles extant before the 6th Congress.

"We require impartial oversight by the (Sadc) community, or another appropriate body, to ensure the peaceful resolution of this matter,'' he wrote.

Mutasa, and other key members of the Mujuru cabal, were not barred from Congress or expelled from the party as Mutasa claimed but had their fates sealed way before Congress convened when they lost Central Committee elections.

In another pointer that he is not alone in his endeavours Mutasa also said in the same interview that, "it's a pity that now we can only talk to you, the independent media...".

Mujuru has only granted interviews to the private media and pirate radio stations since she was dropped from the Central Committee and fired from Cabinet.

In the letter to Sadc, Mutasa said, "Therefore we'd like to stress to the Sadc community that those for whom this letter seeks to denounce the flagrant abuse of party procedure and the subversion of due process as a means of exercising personal political ambition and score-settling."

Mutasa's successor in the Politburo, Ignatius Chombo, has since warned Mutasa to desist from inviting outsiders into Zanu-PF's internal affairs.

Goodwine Mureriwa said it was clear that Mutasa was still doing the bidding for Mujuru.

"It's clear that VP Mujuru is working with Mutasa in trying to involve Sadc in Zanu-PF's internal matters when they clearly lost their positions through electoral processes. That she has not come in the open to dissociate herself from Mutasa's utterances is clear evidence that they're together or she's the brains behind the attempt which, however, is unlikely to succeed," Mureriwa said.

Mutasa and Mujuru lost their Central Committee positions after they were rejected by their respective party districts to become ordinary card-carrying members contrary to Mutasa's claims that they were pushed out.

Mutasa and Nicholas Goche were reportedly at the forefront of plotting to assassinate the President with the former telling his girlfriend that President Mugabe would be shot if he did not relinquish his post to Mujuru.

Chairperson of the Political Science Department at the University of Zimbabwe Dr Charity Manyeruke said the onus was on Mujuru to dissociate herself from Mutasa's utterances.

"Unless she dissociates herself from Mutasa's movement that is seeking to tarnish the name of Zanu-PF and the President then it would be difficult not to interpret that she's part of that team that Mutasa is representing in his statements," she said.

"They were dismissed from Zanu-PF leadership by the people after they were found working against the values of the party and trying to assassinate the President and this doesn't warrant the involvement of Sadc as it is a purely intra-party matter. They should be apologising and be remorseful of their actions instead of trying to involve Sadc in matters it has no oversight on."

Apart from Mujuru, Mutasa and Goche the others that lost their Central Committee posts or ministerial positions include Dzikamai Mavhaire, Munacho Mutezo, Francis Nhema, Simbaneuta Mudarikwa and Olivia Muchena.