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Zimbabwe
politicians make a play for control
Inyasha Chivara,
Mail and Guardian (SA)
September 06, 2013
http://mg.co.za/article/2013-09-06-00-zimbabwe-politicians-make-a-play-for-control
Both faction
leaders - party secretary for legal affairs and former defence minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa and party first secretary and vice-president
Joice Mujuru - allegedly jostled to get their faction members into
the speaker of parliament position.
In the end,
it appears Mnangagwa has gained the upper hand, after thwarting
Mujuru’s nominations at a politburo meeting last week, and
pre-politburo meeting lobbying and meetings with President Robert
Mugabe.
The Mail &
Guardian can reveal that Mugabe had a meeting with Mujuru at his
offices before last Thursday’s politburo meeting, where she
suggested that it was in the interest of the party to have party
information secretary Rugare Gumbo as national assembly speaker.
For the position
of party chief whip, Mujuru suggested politburo member and Masvingo
legislator Dzikamai Mavhaire.
Insiders say
the strategy was to elevate Gumbo to an influential parliamentary
position that will push him closer to the party national chairperson
position at Zanu-PF’s December special congress.
A source within
the politburo privy to details of the meeting told the M&G that
Mugabe “just listened and didn’t suggest any names”.
Legal
background needed
In another private
meeting, again before the politburo meeting, Mugabe also sought
Mnangagwa’s view, who apparently suggested that the party
needed a very senior party person with a legal background, preferably
from the Matabeleland province, who could lead the national assembly
and suggested former Matabeleland North governor, party provincial
chairperson and lawyer Jacob Mudenda.
Mnangagwa also
suggested to Mugabe that, for continuity purposes, Joram Gumbo should
be retained as party chief whip.
When Mugabe
chaired the politburo meeting, he initially allowed for nominations
for the national assembly positions.
Joram Gumbo’s
nomination was not seconded and the late Kumbirai Kangai’s
nomination for president of Senate was not favoured.
A politburo
member from Masvingo, who was part of the proceedings, said Mugabe
told the meeting that he had consulted widely with the party presidium
and would want Mudenda to become the next speaker.
“We were
surprised by the name, but Mudenda’s political credentials
are difficult to question,” he said.
Back
from political wilderness
Mabel Chinomona’s
name was nominated, and seconded, before Mugabe agreed to it.
Mugabe advised
the meeting that for the Senate, former senate president Edna Madzongwe
would be retained, and proposed former information minister Chen
Chimutengwende as her deputy.
Both Mudenda
and Chinomona were suspended from the party in 2005 for being part
of a controversial meeting held in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North,
which was allegedly convened to campaign for Mnangagwa’s elevation.
For five years,
they were in the political wilderness, and Mudenda embarked on his
legal studies at the University of Zimbabwe.
Both have made
a dramatic political comeback in the past five years - Mudenda has
been appointed as the chair of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission
chairperson, and Chinomona retained a position in the party’s
central committee.
Both Gumbo and
Mavhaire’s nominations for speaker and chief whip positions
respectively failed to garner enough support to land the portfolios.
Need
to develop Matabeleland
During the proceedings
in Parliament on Tuesday, after the election of Mudenda, Mujuru
spoke passionately about the need to develop Mudenda’s Matabeleland
home area.
Speaking in
Shona, Mujuru said Mudenda’s appointment was a “wake-up
call for the government to develop the area, where internet facilities
hardly existed”.
There was an
emotional moment after former mines minister Obert Mpofu shed tears,
congratulating his political colleague from his home province.
National Zanu-PF
spokesperson Rugare Gumbo admitted that there are people with different
opinions in his party, which has resulted in the party being regarded
as having separate factions.
He said he did
not know whether the president had sought Mnangagwa’s opinion.
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