Mujuru does not miss Mugabe and Zanu-PF

Former Vice-President Joice Mujuru says she is at peace as an ordinary citizen and does not miss Zanu-PF or the luxury of being a vice-president in President Robert Mugabe's government at all.

In an exclusive interview with The Standard while Zanu-PF was in the middle of its annual conference in Victoria Falls on Friday, Mujuru said she had nothing to miss there.

"Looking at what is happening after the so-called congress of 2014, I have nothing to miss there. I enjoy being an ordinary citizen enduring, like everyone else, the pain and anguish of the economic crisis we find ourselves in," Mujuru said.

The former VP, who was axed from both Zanu-PF and government 12 months ago on allegations of plotting to overthrow Mugabe, said she was enjoying living the life of an ordinary Zimbabwean although it brought her sadness to watch people she fought along side during the armed struggle tear each other apart in factional fights.

"It's unfortunate that in all this, the economy and the ordinary Zimbabweans are the ones paying the ultimate price as leaders fight for power. As for me, I am missing nothing there, there is nothing to miss both as VP in government and in the party," Mujuru said.

With expectations high that she would soon launch her own political party, the country's first female VP has chosen to keep her cards close to her chest.

After kicking Mujuru out in December last year and replacing her with Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, the ruling party has remained engulfed in factional fires that have seen suspensions and expulsions becoming the order of the day.

Her ouster from the party has also not stopped Mugabe and his supporters from making Mujuru their political punching bag, even when she does not respond.

Although she has not featured prominently in public, except at funerals of associates, her name has remained on the front pages of newspapers which link her to a political project dubbed People First.

The project is currently being championed by ex-Zanu-PF stalwarts, Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo, along with freedom fighters and former high officials of Zanu-PF and ministers who were chucked out of the party along with Mujuru.

Once in a while Mujuru has heightened expectations of launching a political party by releasing statements. But as soon as these are released, she retreats into her shell, leaving friends and foes alike guessing about her plans.

"I will not be pushed around. I will do what the people of Zimbabwe want me to do at an appropriate time — to help each other as Zimbabweans," Mujuru has said.

In one of her statements, Mujuru requested that she be allowed to be free and be as she pleased, without "Zanu-PF being obsessed with me".

Defacto spokesperson of the so-called People First, Gumbo has said Mujuru's silence should not be misconstrued for weakness as it was part of their strategy.

"We are not there to entertain doubtful people. We are serious and we are doing all we can underground. Currently we are mobilising and strategising; building structures silently while the post congress Zanu-PF continues to tear one another apart," said Gumbo.

Analyst Alexandra Rusero, however, said if Mujuru was serious about forming a party, she had to do it now before the public sympathy she enjoyed dissipated.

"No doubt Mujuru's formal entry into opposition politics will shake-up the political scene, but on the flipside, her dillydallying may also be damaging," Rusero said.

After the dramatic fall of Mujuru and her cabal, the torch bearers of the project have presented themselves as poor people with nothing to show for the 35 years they were in government.