HARARE – The former Information Minister, Tsolotsho North MP Professor Jonathan Moyo is seeking a court order barring the media from Publishing a 200-page detailed plan for a Zanu PF breakaway party led by Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, it has been revealed.
Sources in Bulawayo said the embattled Zanu PF come-back-kid is so desperate to suppress the publication of the damning detailed plan in a document he is alleged to have authored for the Mnangagwa faction. The document is said to be spelling out detailed plans for a breakaway movement from Zanu PF ahead of the next general elections.
Last week, in a statement issued to the media, Professor Moyo denied reports that he attended a secret christmas meeting in Gweru but so far he has not denied the existence of a secret 200-page blue-print currently circulating in Zanu PF proposing the formation of a breakaway Zanu PF party.
Professor Moyo’s lawyers are said to be preparing an approach to the Bulawayo High court seeking a court order barring Zimbabwean media from publishing the highly sensitive detailed document which is causing so much anxiety and jittery in Zanu PF circles.
The source said Mr. Moyo’s lawyers will point out to the confidentiality clause in the document and they will also urge the Court to look at the issues concerning the government’s Official Secrets Act [Chapter 11:09] as amended at December 31, 2004, as some of the issues in the document touches on sensitive government security and Intelligence agencies.
The Official Secrets Act prohibit the disclosure for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of Zimbabwe of information which might be useful to an enemy; to make provision for the purpose of preventing persons from obtaining or disclosing official secrets in Zimbabwe; to prevent unauthorized persons from making sketches, plans or models of and to prevent trespass upon defence works, fortifications, military reserves and other prohibited places; and to provide for matters incidental to the foregoing.
Moyo a political scientist-turned politician has assumed the role of chief strategist for Zimbabwe Defence Minister Emmerson Mnagagwa in the Zanu PF succession battle and he has promised his principal a “remarkable turnaround” in the months to come. The faction is reported to be launching a massive recruitment drive within Zanu PF and has targets in both sets of the MDC parties.
During the recently held Zanu PF Congress, the main wing led by retired General Solomon Mujuru completely decimated the Mnangagwa faction by winning crucial votes in most of the provinces leaving the man whose closeness to Robert Mugabe earned him the title of ‘Son of God’ in serious danger of losing out on the battle to succeed the dictator as Zanu PF President and First Secretary.
However, Mnangagwa, is a shrewd and ruthless political player also known as Ngwena, or the Crocodile has already established a secret base in South Africa from where the key plots and skulduggery will be launched.
Sources said Mnangagwa is now lobbying President Mugabe to appoint one of his key man, former Midlands Zanu PF Chairman July Moyo as Ambassador to South Africa, from where he will launch the final push for office. The post fell vacant when Simon Khaya Moyo was elected party Chairman.
Solomon Mujuru, known as The Kingmaker or Smooth operator, took command of the ZANU guerrilla army in 1979 under the nom de guerre Rex Nhongo, and he went on to lead Zimbabwe’s armed forces for a decade after the war ended. He apparently fell out with Mnangagwa when the latter blocked his bid to buy into a lucrative chrome mining scheme.
Mujuru is pushing for his wife, Joyce Mujuru to succeed Robert Mugabe. She is the country’s second Vice-President. But the ethnic allegiances of the key players are also a significant factor in this struggle for the post-Mugabe presidency. Mnangagwa and Joice Mujuru both belong to Zimbabwe’s biggest tribe, the Shona. But within this tribe, Mnangagwa comes from a clan called the Karanga, while Mujuru belongs to Mugabe’s own Zezuru clan.
Tensions between the Karanga and Zezuru trace back to the war, when the Karanga provided the bulk of fighters and military leaders for the ZANU movement. Since power fell into the hands of Mugabe – a ruthless Zezuru intellectual who led the ZANU movement but did no fighting himself – many Karangas feel he has ignored their contribution, sidelined their leaders and promoted members of his own clan. Source: The Zimbabwe Mail.
