Opinion / Columnist
Mugabe must sort out Zanu-PF mess
18 Jan 2015 at 08:56hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe, who has been on annual vacation in the Far East, will be returning home anytime now - where he will be confronted with a myriad of problems.
Mugabe, who turns 91 next month, will come face to face with the fissures in his party worsened by the fresh challenge from Zanu-PF heavyweights, who claim the December congress which ushered in a new leadership was null and void.
In a strongly-worded statement released earlier this week, former Zanu-PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa said he did not recognise the new leadership elected at congress because the party's constitution had been breached.
This evoked an over-the-top reaction by senior party officials directed at Mutasa. Analysts now say that this implies that the challenge against Zanu-PF and Mugabe touched a raw nerve.
We tend to agree.
This may go down in history as the nonagenarian's biggest challenge within his own party since its inception five decades ago.
Mugabe will also walk into the storm caused by his "quarrelsome' wife Grace over the evictions of Manzou Farm residents to make way for animals.
Elsewhere in today's edition, we report that the farm which was given to Grace Mugabe to run a conservancy was a source of livelihood and home to over 1 200 families.
The farm will now become a haven for lions and elephants. This development comes at a time when the country, whose economy is on its knees, is also bogged down by an acute housing problem.
As if that was not enough, thousands of families still remain displaced after floods washed away their homes early this month.
Statistics from Red Cross indicate that at least 4 000 people in Manicaland and Mashonaland regions have been affected by the floods. The organisation says they now need $400 000 to help the affected persons.
This comes as several victims of the Tokwe-Mukorsi floods that ravaged Masvingo Province last year are still to be resettled.
We call on the president as head of government to be sensitive to people's needs.
Mugabe also returns at a time when there is resistance towards his recently-appointed vice presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mpoko.
We hope the president will expeditiously deal with the challenges in his party as they have a bearing on the nation.
Source - dailynews
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