'CIOs can produce dossiers of any citizen'

According to gossip on the kombis and at Mereki, the CIO can, if asked, produce thick dossiers on the movements of any given citizen, from the vagabond foraging for food in dustbins, to the business executive living in Borrowdale. What any reasoning person will want to know is why it took a few Sunday Mail journalists to produce evidence which should really have come from our venerated army intelligence.

The reason Mujuru remains untouched - for now - is that, as usual, Zanu-PF is looking for legitimacy in an election which has already been marred by no-confidence votes and intimidation, even before it has begun.

To imprison Mujuru would make her a martyr, which would endear her even more to her supporters. To bar her completely from participating in the party's elections will look, to outsiders, like blatant cheating. So the solution is to weaken her - sort of like weighing down an athlete with bricks – and then allowing her to run in the December congress.

Mugabe is aware that Emmerson Mnangagwa leads a faction in Zanu-PF. What leaves most people puzzled is why among all these accusations of treason and 'fanning factionalism' - all the Mnangagwa allies remain untouched by these no-confidence votes.