MIDLANDS has become the new battleground for the two rival factions in Zanu PF, fighting to succeed ageing President Robert Mugabe.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
Midlands has for long been regarded as Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s powerbase and many see him as the province’s political godfather in Zanu PF.
However, in the last months, Mnangagwa’s control of the province appeared to be under threat as the G40 faction — which enjoys the support of First Lady Grace Mugabe — gunned for his head.
The VP’s faction fought back tenaciously, leading to a compromise last week that saw one of his key allies, Jorum Gumbo, being appointed to lead the province on an interim basis, replacing Tapiwa Matangaidze, a suspected G40 sympathiser.
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer Eldred Masunungure said G40 took the fight to Midlands to test if Mnangagwa was a real “crocodile”, like his moniker, or just a lizard, as they had publicly declared.
“It was a test of wills by taking the fight to his homeland to see if he could fend off the fights from the core of his powerbase so that he could prove if he is a real crocodile or just a lizard,” he said.
“The fight was more intense in Midlands than it was anywhere else, but now there appears to be some sanity which has developed in what appears to be some retreat by the party national secretary of the commissariat (Saviour Kasukuwere).
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“They are retracing their steps and by the look of things, one can say Team Lacoste (Mnangagwa faction) has won this round, but it is not the end of the fight. There could be 12 rounds in the making.”
Masunungure said the succession fights were not about to end, but would intensify because it was a high stakes game with winner taking all, adding Mnangagwa and his allies had shown they could defend their base.
On Thursday, Zanu PF commissar Saviour Kasukuwere withdrew his appointment of Matangaidze as acting provincial chairman.
Former Kwekwe Rural Zanu PF district coordinating committee chairman George Chipwanyira Makombe said the plot by the warring factions to control Midlands was premised on the fact that for Mnangagwa to get into the central committee, he has to get backing from the province.
“He needs to come from a province to get into the central committee before he is appointed to the politburo, and in the past, his approval to the central committee has never been questioned because of the control he has had over the province,” Makombe said.
He said if those opposed to Mnangagwa were to take control of the provincial leadership, then his influence in both the province and Zanu PF could see him losing his ticket into the central committee and eventually, politburo.
Makombe fell out of favour in the Zanu PF Midlands leadership after he attempted to block the ascendency of Mnangagwa’s wife, Auxillia, to the central committee in 2003.
A close Mnangagwa ally said Midlands remained the nucleus of the party as it usually set the tone each time the party had to make big decisions.
“We have always been the nucleus of the party and [we] play an integral role in terms of propping Zanu PF politics,” the source said.
“Remember, the issue of Tsholotsho declaration was led from Midlands and we have the biggest district in the country, Gokwe. The fact is that the faction that wins control of Midlands controls the party.”
He added that the fact that G40 was eyeing Midlands and Masvingo provinces — both powerbases of Mnangagwa — meant they were aware of his influence.
“Only a person who is a factor in the succession, who has a following, will receive that attention. They know Mnangagwa has the ball and they want to take it away from him and alienate him by appointing people opposed to him to run the provinces,” the senior Zanu PF official said.
At the height of the fight for control of the provincial leadership, Zanu PF Midlands spokesperson Cornelius Mupereri said those who were behind G40 knew that the province had remained solid after the 2008 elections and was central in blocking the MDC-T from getting a two-thirds parliamentary majority.
“It is shocking that people who do not even live here alleged that Zanu PF supporters were beaten up and barred from attending a party programme, yet nothing of that sort happened,” he said then.
“We want to know who took that false information to the commissariat and to what end.
“In the absence of concrete evidence, we are left to believe that there is a plan to alienate Midlands from Mugabe.”
Former Midlands governor Cephas Msipa has blamed Mugabe for the fights in the province.
Msipa said Zanu PF had been built around individuals and not institutions, therefore, creating challenges in forging the party ahead after those individuals.
This is not the first time that Mnangagwa’s allies have fought to protect his influence and control of the province, after fending off attempts by former vice-president Joice Mujuru, whose then “Gamatox” faction wanted to control the Midlands fortress.
Mujuru’s allies included Midlands Provincial Affairs minister Jason Machaya, who was dragged to court together with former Masvingo counterpart Kudakwashe Bhasikiti in a $50 million lawsuit.
The lawsuit, which was headlined by Douglas Tapfuma — now principal director in Mnangagwa’s office — Owen Ncube, July Moyo and Auxillia, was a result of the provincial elections which saw Machaya winning the chairmanship against Larry Mavima.
Machaya was later booted out of his post and replaced by Kizito Chivamba through a vote of no confidence engineered by Mnangagwa’s allies who control the provincial co-ordinating committee.
