Mugabe wants Grace to take over

By Itai Dzamara

President Robert Mugabe resorted to throwing his wife Grace into the chaotic Zanu PF succession battle with serious intentions to have her take over, it has become clearer.

The News Leader now has unravelled the puzzle and established the untold stories behind Mugabe’s latest round of high political drama.

These include that, as we reported yesterday, Mugabe has been told by very key allies such as China, to step down from power, as a precondition for availing a financial rescue package to Zimbabwe.

We have also established that Mugabe has been getting more pressure from other angles, including security top leaders and regional allies, to seriously consider stepping down.

It is in the light of the possibility of Mugabe stepping down, that he – very desperately and adventurously – threw his wife into the fray. 

However, the rival Mujuru faction is putting up a fierce resistance mission and vowing to foil the Grace plot.

‘We also took it lightly in the beginning but we now know that Mugabe wants his wife to take over as leader of the party and the country,’ a top Zanu PF source said.

Investigations by The News Leader have revealed that Mugabe has deployed teams and resources to massively campaign for Grace within the Zanu PF structures, and, across the whole country.

‘There is a secret team, led by Mugabe’s loyalists, such as Patrick Zhuwawo and Phillip Chiyangwa and Mugabe is personally funding it,’ another source said.

Zhuwawo and Chiyangwa are Mugabe’s nephews.

The Grace campaign is being heightened and The News Leader yesterday established there are plans to have her ‘take over every city and town by storm’ according to an inside source.

The campaign team will soon erect huge campaign materials, including electronic bill boards, in major cities and towns, bearing Grace’s image, together with messages such as, ‘Mother of the nation’.

We are aware of a company currently working on such campaign materials in Harare.

Grace’s campaign images and messages have already been featuring on Zupco buses, which, we heard from our sources, resulted from a directive issued by Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo, to the Zupco management.

Zhuwawo yesterday declined to comment on the Grace campaign but merely said, ‘She is the First Lady and has her rights to engage in political activities.’

Informed sources told us that Mugabe and his closest allies – who include mainly his relatives and a few members from the Mnangagwa faction – are plotting for ways through which Grace may emerge as the surprise successor, if not at the Zanu PF December congress, then in the near future.

To achieve that, Grace has been busy positioning herself. Last month, she assumed the powerful position of secretary for the Zanu PF Women’s League.

‘Mugabe appears to have been nudged into the desperate moves by the need to protect his interests, and those of his family, in the event of him stepping down,’ an insider said.

Mugabe, it has been established, also desired to have his son Robert (jnr) storm onto the big stage in the Zanu PF chaotic politics.

Our sources say there was a serious but very late to push to have Robert (jnr) take over the position of deputy secretary for the Zanu PF Youth League. He eventually settled for the position of secretary for security, after resistance from the Mujuru faction, which emerged out of the elections with its members taking over key positions.

The same kind of resistance is being put up against the push for Grace, by the Mujuru faction.

Mujuru has resolved to go for the kill and fight to take over as leader of Zanu PF after realising that Mugabe could step down, sources close to her said. The Mujuru faction is reading the Grace plot, and has been working on countering it.

We are aware that there are six provinces, out of 10, which have resolved to reject Grace’s bid to rise and get closest to the throne, following campaigns by the Mujuru faction.

Mugabe has been publicly fuming over reports that leaders of Harare province have resolved to reject his wife, with some information having leaked indicating calls for Grace to ‘go and look for a home elsewhere’, by the Harare province.

Serious tensions have gripped Zanu PF over the deepening power battles and the Grace plot further causing divisions. Mugabe has also sent mixed signals about his plans, amidst growing speculation within Zanu PF’s top levels that he may step down at the looming congress.

Last month Mugabe told the Zanu PF Women’s League congress that all top leaders, including himself, were supposed to step down at congress. However, he has subsequently made positions and utterances that contradict the claim of him and every other leader having to step down.

Pressure is mounting on Mugabe to use the approaching congress to at least set a direction for his badly handled succession scandal. The News Leader