'Zanu-PF bigwigs want Mugabe out,' says Kasukuwere

Zanu-PF political Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday appealed to church leaders to pray for President Robert Mugabe from party insiders whom he claimed were ready to use any means necessary to remove him from power.

Apparently leaping to the defence of under-fire Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo, Kasukuwere said there is a clique within the deeply-divided ruling party that stands ready to do anything to snatch power from Mugabe.

In a thinly-veiled attack on Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is accused by the Generation 40 (G40) faction - to which Moyo and Kasukuwere are believed to belong - of harbouring unrestrained presidential ambitions, the ruling party's political commissar insisted that despite corruption allegations levelled against senior party officials, the party remained "strong".

"The tell-tale signs are worrying, a direct onslaught which I don't know for some reason (they) are trying to grab power from a sitting president . . . my appeal to the church leaders is let's pray for our leader. Let's pray for his health . . . leadership comes from God," Kasukuwere said.

"It doesn't need you to be involved in violent shenanigans to become a leader . . . You don't have to rope in services of a n'anga to become a leader.

"Uchiteya mariva, mamwe mariva are useless (Some traps are useless)," he added.

"Vafundisi nyika inoda kudefendwa (pastors we have to defend our nation). We have to stand up against evil," he said.

"We must have peace in our country, the signs of the last two weeks are not encouraging for any political party, you can see an uncalled for contestation for power.

"The party has a leader...we chose a leader," he insisted.

The Local Government minister also admitted that factional wars were hindering development, creation of jobs and the provision of decent housing to the ordinary Zimbabweans struggling to make ends meet in a dying economy.

"We are not defending corruption, but don't say ‘you are fighting corruption' when you are playing politics," he said.

"Some say they are fighting corruption but they are fighting for themselves and we don't want churches to be brought into these issues. We don't want Norton to be a victim."

Kasukuwere used the event to endorse Zanu-PF party candidate Ronald Chindedza ahead of the Norton parliamentary by-election scheduled for October 22.

Chindedza will go toe-to-toe with independent candidate Temba Mliswa and David Choga from the National Constitutional Assembly in the by-election which the opposition say will be a platform to send a strong message to Mugabe that his time is up.

More rattling for the ruling party is the emergence of Mliswa, who has been setting the campaign train ablaze.

The ruling party has previously adopted a soft approach to by-elections in which it posted easy victories, mainly owing to the fact that its main challenger, the MDC, is boycotting the polls, citing an uneven playing field.

However, this time, Zanu-PF is desperate to hold on to the Norton parliamentary seat that fell vacant following the expulsion of war veteran's leader Christopher Mutsvangwa for allegedly undermining the authority of the president.

And Kasukuwere did not hide his concern yesterday, calling on church leaders, through their congregations, to overwhelmingly vote for Chindedza.

Wittingly, the pastors also used the opportunity to request for church and residential stands, land for agricultural purposes and income-generating projects, which Kasukuwere directed the Norton council to provide.