By Brian Latham , Bloomberg
Zimbabwe’s ruling party began the process of removing loyalists of Vice President Joice Mujuru from its central committee in a worsening power struggle over an eventual succession to President Robert Mugabe.
Mujuru, 59, won’t be able to stand for election to the central committee at the party’s five-year congress on Dec. 2-7 after a provincial council rejected her application, the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp. reported yesterday.
The state-controlled Herald newspaper, based in the capital, Harare, said a number of other party “bigwigs linked to her nefarious activities to oust President Robert Mugabe” were also dropped. Those blocked from seeking central committee positions included the ministers of energy, tourism and foreign affairs.
The action came after Mugabe’s wife Grace publicly called for Mujuru to resign and state-owned newspapers accused her of corruption and treason, charges she’s denied. While Mugabe will probably pick a replacement for Mujuru as vice president, as party leader he has the power to appoint her to the central committee.
“Those who are figuratively dead now may find room for resurrection, though it seems a remote possibility,” Alex Magaisa, a constitutional lawyer at the University of Kent in the U.K. said today in an e-mailed statement.
Grace Mugabe, with the support of the justice minister and the nation’s former top spy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has taken a lead role in attacking Mujuru as unfit to succeed her 90-year-old husband, who’s led the southern African nation since independence from the U.K. in 1980.
‘Gucci Grace’
Grace, 49, is the main candidate to be made head of the party Women’s League at next month’s congress, giving her a position on the decision-making politburo. In October, she told a rally that as a Zimbabwean, she has the right to become president.
Among Zimbabweans who criticize what they describe as her extravagant lifestyle, she’s known as “Gucci Grace” and the nation’s “first shopper.”
Mujuru fought in the independence war under the nom de guerre Teurai Ropa, or “spill blood” in the Shona language, and her late husband, Solomon Mujuru, was the top commander of the guerrilla forces and independent Zimbabwe’s first army commander. His body was found burned in his farmhouse in 2011.
The infighting has seen nine of 10 provincial party leaders ousted in the past two months, the suspension of Zanu-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo, and the expulsion of national war veterans association leader Jabulani Sibanda. All those removed from their positions are supporters of Mujuru.
Zanu-PF chairman Simon Khaya Moyo, appointed acting party spokesman after Gumbo’s suspension, and deputy spokesman Psychology Maziwisa didn’t answer calls seeking comment.
