The Zanu (PF) succession battle has taken a new twist with the emergence of a mysterious new group calling itself the “263preez team”.
The group has taken to social media to promote itself and its candidate for the presidency in 2018 – Jonathan Moyo, the current Minister of Information.
A senior cabinet minister has told The Zimbabwean on condition of anonymity that President Robert Mugabe is very concerned about the new development, which he says has its roots in the Baba Jukwa project.
Last week our ministerial source revealed that a senior Sunday Mail staff member (name withheld) was not only the real Baba Jukwa, but also Mai Jukwa.
He said the identity had been cracked by a team of hackers who had been working flat out to un-mask the shadowy character who rose to international stardom on Facebook ahead of the 2013 elections with his revelations of the inside workings of Zanu (PF). The minister gave details of how passwords had been cracked by tracing the cell phone numbers and email addresses used to protect them.
The minister said BJ’s revelations had “started all this confusion in our country” and “terrorised” the former governor of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono, vice President Joice Mujuru and cabinet ministers Didymus Mutasa and Webster Shamu as well as party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo.
Two main groups have been fighting for ascendancy within Zanu (PF) – one led by Mujuru and the other by Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa. Moyo was believed to belong to the latter group, given his initiation of the Tsholotsho meeting to push Mnangagwa’s candidacy, which resulted in him and several senior party officials being consigned by Mugabe to political purgatory.
The minister said loyal members within the intelligence services were now investigating how the government-controlled media was being used to push the agenda of the 263preez team.
He accused the team of destroying the party and said the president was very worried about the development.
The Herald’s coverage of the revelations about Baba Jukwa that began to surface a few weeks ago was prolific. It started a screaming headline “Baba Jukwa confesses”. However no such confession was even mentioned in the article, which simply regurgitated much of the previous day’s Sunday Mail content saying two South African-based journalists, Mxolisi Ncube and Mkhululi Chimoio, were Baba Jukwa. They have denied it and are taking legal action to clear their names.
This vein of reporting continued every day and by the end of the week The Herald was almost hysterical in its demands that the security forces should act or be suspected of conniving with Baba Jukwa in “insulting General Constantine Chiwenga” – the head of the defence forces. The Zimbabwean
