News / National
Mujuru's allies regroup
18 Jan 2015 at 08:33hrs | Views
Former Vice-President Joice Mujuru and her allies are regrouping to salvage their plot to topple President Mugabe with assistance from the US Embassy in Harare which has assigned CIA agent Mr Eric Ryan Little to the project.
The Sunday Mail claims that Mujuru's chief lieutenant, Ray Kaukonde, returned to Zimbabwe in December to help co-ordinate the plan.
Kaukonde had fled to South Africa after details of the scheme became public in 2014.
Mujuru is said to have met him and other conspirators - among them former Zanu-PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and sacked party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo - to "discuss the way forward".
Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn leader Simba Makoni and ex-Zapu cadre Dumiso Dabengwa also figure in the plan.
Reliable sources disclosed that Mujuru is piggybacking her efforts on factional structures she created during her 10-year tenure as Zanu-PF's Second Secretary and Vice President, and President Mugabe's deputy in Government.
The sources said she wants to use these structures to destabilise Zanu-PF while pursuing several other avenues to unseat the President.
Gumbo is believed to be the point-man in the group's liaison with the United States embassy in Harare, which has always played an active part in the scheme.
Through its second secretary (parliamentary affairs) Mr Little - the US embassy has been trying to get Members of Parliament to pass a vote of no confidence on President Mugabe.
Dabengwa - on the other hand - is said to be a willing partner as he was perturbed by the elevation of his Zapu comrade, Ambassador Phelekezela Mphoko, to the Vice-Presidency.
Mujuru declined commenting when The Sunday Mail visited her Harare home on Thursday.
A guard manning the gate said: "She is in the house, and I have told her that you want to see her, but she says she does not want to talk to you."
Dabengwa dissociated himself from the conspirators and denied discussing his and Makoni's co-option into their ranks.
"Last year I said I would work with anyone who was ready to move Zimbabwe forward and this is what I have repeated. Anything outside that is untrue. I have not been approached."
Kaukonde and Mutasa could not be reached as their mobile phones went unanswered.
A source, however, told The Sunday Mail that Kaukonde was in Harare just before Christmas.
"The camp is re-assembling as its key members are now beginning to circle. Mujuru and other characters in this unholy scheme have already met several times.
"Dabengwa is one of the individuals they are keen to work with. Of course, for obvious reasons, he is terribly unhappy with the appointment of Mphoko as Second Vice-President and would want to get involved with the Mujuru camp.
"And Gumbo - in a re-enactment of 1977 - is receiving funding and strategy from the Americans to topple the President. If you check the record, you will see that pane mari yaaipihwa nevarungu to destabilise the struggle and leadership back in 1977."
In 2014, it emerged that Mujuru was working with some senior Zanu-PF officials to topple President Mugabe and install her in his stead at the party's Sixth National Congress last December.
The fairly elaborate plan also involved recruiting Members of Parliament to pass a vote of no confidence on the President and seeking support from oppositional MDC-T elements.
Information at hand also indicated that the conspirators planned to assassinate Mugabe if both approaches failed.
In November 2014, the Zanu-PF Politburo heard that Mutasa and Gumbo said the party's First Secretary and President would be shot if he did not allow Mujuru to take over at Congress.
Former Public Service, Labour and Social Services Minister Nicholas Goche is believed to have approached hitmen in Israel and South Africa to explore the possibility of the assassination. In 1978, Gumbo tried to ascend to power through a similar bloody coup targeted at Zanu's external leadership.
He and others abducted and intended to kill Edgar Tekere and Herbert Ushewokunze by throwing them into a deep ravine.
The coup was thwarted, though Ushewokunze sustained head injuries.
Prior to that, Gumbo had tried to undermine the liberation struggle at its critical stage by contemptuously confronting Zanu Chair Herbert Chitepo and Zanla Commander General Josiah Tongogara.
It was later learnt, according to historians, that he was among Western-aligned infiltrators.
It is understood Mujuru and her allies have been working on alternative approaches since being invariably relieved of party and Government duties.
Last week, Mutasa said he wants the courts to declare the December Congress illegal and to reinstate members of his cabal to their previous posts.
Analysts say this only shows that Mutasa and his colleagues were colluding to topple the President.
The Sunday Mail claims that Mujuru's chief lieutenant, Ray Kaukonde, returned to Zimbabwe in December to help co-ordinate the plan.
Kaukonde had fled to South Africa after details of the scheme became public in 2014.
Mujuru is said to have met him and other conspirators - among them former Zanu-PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and sacked party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo - to "discuss the way forward".
Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn leader Simba Makoni and ex-Zapu cadre Dumiso Dabengwa also figure in the plan.
Reliable sources disclosed that Mujuru is piggybacking her efforts on factional structures she created during her 10-year tenure as Zanu-PF's Second Secretary and Vice President, and President Mugabe's deputy in Government.
The sources said she wants to use these structures to destabilise Zanu-PF while pursuing several other avenues to unseat the President.
Gumbo is believed to be the point-man in the group's liaison with the United States embassy in Harare, which has always played an active part in the scheme.
Through its second secretary (parliamentary affairs) Mr Little - the US embassy has been trying to get Members of Parliament to pass a vote of no confidence on President Mugabe.
Dabengwa - on the other hand - is said to be a willing partner as he was perturbed by the elevation of his Zapu comrade, Ambassador Phelekezela Mphoko, to the Vice-Presidency.
Mujuru declined commenting when The Sunday Mail visited her Harare home on Thursday.
A guard manning the gate said: "She is in the house, and I have told her that you want to see her, but she says she does not want to talk to you."
Dabengwa dissociated himself from the conspirators and denied discussing his and Makoni's co-option into their ranks.
"Last year I said I would work with anyone who was ready to move Zimbabwe forward and this is what I have repeated. Anything outside that is untrue. I have not been approached."
Kaukonde and Mutasa could not be reached as their mobile phones went unanswered.
"The camp is re-assembling as its key members are now beginning to circle. Mujuru and other characters in this unholy scheme have already met several times.
"Dabengwa is one of the individuals they are keen to work with. Of course, for obvious reasons, he is terribly unhappy with the appointment of Mphoko as Second Vice-President and would want to get involved with the Mujuru camp.
"And Gumbo - in a re-enactment of 1977 - is receiving funding and strategy from the Americans to topple the President. If you check the record, you will see that pane mari yaaipihwa nevarungu to destabilise the struggle and leadership back in 1977."
In 2014, it emerged that Mujuru was working with some senior Zanu-PF officials to topple President Mugabe and install her in his stead at the party's Sixth National Congress last December.
The fairly elaborate plan also involved recruiting Members of Parliament to pass a vote of no confidence on the President and seeking support from oppositional MDC-T elements.
Information at hand also indicated that the conspirators planned to assassinate Mugabe if both approaches failed.
In November 2014, the Zanu-PF Politburo heard that Mutasa and Gumbo said the party's First Secretary and President would be shot if he did not allow Mujuru to take over at Congress.
Former Public Service, Labour and Social Services Minister Nicholas Goche is believed to have approached hitmen in Israel and South Africa to explore the possibility of the assassination. In 1978, Gumbo tried to ascend to power through a similar bloody coup targeted at Zanu's external leadership.
He and others abducted and intended to kill Edgar Tekere and Herbert Ushewokunze by throwing them into a deep ravine.
The coup was thwarted, though Ushewokunze sustained head injuries.
Prior to that, Gumbo had tried to undermine the liberation struggle at its critical stage by contemptuously confronting Zanu Chair Herbert Chitepo and Zanla Commander General Josiah Tongogara.
It was later learnt, according to historians, that he was among Western-aligned infiltrators.
It is understood Mujuru and her allies have been working on alternative approaches since being invariably relieved of party and Government duties.
Last week, Mutasa said he wants the courts to declare the December Congress illegal and to reinstate members of his cabal to their previous posts.
Analysts say this only shows that Mutasa and his colleagues were colluding to topple the President.
Source - sundaymail
