By Lloyd Mbiba
HARARE – In a surprising twist to the worsening succession war in Zanu PF — that has taken a violent turn in the last few weeks — respected party elder Cephas Msipa has criticised President Robert Mugabe for failing to deal with the infighting and refusing to take advice on the party’s escalating factionalism.
In an interview with the Daily News yesterday, Msipa said he feared for Zanu PF if relations remained as fractious as they currently were in the ruling party.
“If people continue being dissatisfied with what is happening, it is possible to have a split. I think the president has the key to all these issues. I hate factionalism and if it continues I don’t know what will become of the party,” he said ruefully.
Msipa’s pointed comments yesterday follow similar sentiments that he expressed at the weekend in another interview with the State-owned Chronicle newspaper, which were predictably underplayed by State newspapers, which share copy.
In that interview, Msipa also bluntly warned Mugabe that his failure to unmask and stop the party’s factionalists dead in their tracks would result in the party imploding and splitting into several opposing camps.
Msipa further attacked one of the two major factions battling for power inside Zanu PF for behaving as if they “own” Grace Mugabe, a development that he said was fuelling factionalism inside the party.
With Grace’s recent surprise and barnstorming entrance into mainstream politics, there is mounting speculation that Zimbabwe’s sole leader since independence in 1980 may be plotting to pass on the leadership baton to his ambitious 49-year-old wife.
Before Grace’s unanticipated plunge into politics, Zanu PF was divided along two main factions, one reportedly led by Vice President Joice Mujuru and the other by Justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Msipa, who at one point during the liberation war lived with Mugabe, said unless his old friend put the burning Zanu PF house in order, then the ruling party was certain to split.
“The key is in the president’s hands, he holds the key and I’ve no doubt about that. No other person (can). If he can be seen to take action against those who are promoting factionalism, that will end it. The buck stops there. We’ve to be careful that factionalism does not lead other people to think about forming a break away party.
“It can happen and that’s why I’m saying this thing must be nipped in the bud and I hope one day the president will act on it,” he said.
Mugabe has consistently refused to anoint a successor and Msipa revealed that he had also failed to convince the Zanu PF leader to name a successor.
“Unfortunately, he didn’t agree with me. So as you know politics is a struggle for power. People want to take certain positions in the party and that’s the nature of politics,” he said.
Msipa’s remarks come hardly a month after war veteran Margaret Dongo had also warned that the former liberation movement was headed for a spilt.
A Zanu PF politburo member who spoke on condition of anonymity agreed with Msipa yesterday, saying: “The First Family is unpopular and her (Grace’s) political capital and knowledge are very low.
“She is very unpopular and those who are using her know that too, but she has become very ambitious,” he said adding that her permanent anger when making speeches revealed that “she knows she is going nowhere”.
Another top Zanu PF official described Grace’s backers as people who were intent on destroying the party from within.
“The allegation that some politburo members are destroying the party from within is now borne out because if indeed Grace has her way and that of her backers, namely to overtake Joice in the vice presidency, that will certainly split Zanu PF,” he said.
Well-known political scientist, Eldred Masunungure, also told the Daily News earlier that Grace, who does not hold any official position in the party at the moment, had in fact become a de facto prime minister whose utterances were now being treated like policy.
In the meantime, Grace continues to burn millions of dollars whose origin is unknown to organise her rallies.
Just yesterday, Grace and her huge entourage used an Air Zimbabwe plane to travel to Bulawayo before she flew straight to the venue in Gwanda aboard an Air Force helicopter.
It could not be established late last night whether her large entourage had paid for their airfares to the ailing national carrier that has been bleeding cash for years.
The First Lady, who until recently used to drive herself in a Mercedes Benz S600, is now being escorted by a huge security convoy.
In her recent interview with the Daily News, Dongo said a split in the ruling party was inevitable as Zanu PF had digressed from its founding values. “If there are people who are principled who know the ideals of the liberation struggle then they should head for a split because politics is not about power but about principles and issues. If you are principled why should you align yourself to people who are this greedy?” she said.
However, Dongo noted that aggrieved senior Zanu PF members did not have the guts yet to join those who had left the party in protest.
“The problem is that we do not have people who have the guts.
“I will give an example. When (the late Edgar) Tekere left he was supposed to leave with a number of people, including some from the politburo to be part of him,” she said.
“The same thing happened to Simba Makoni. He was told by gurus to leave Zanu PF and that they would follow. But the nature of politics in Zanu PF is such that mukaenda kunovhima mese, vakashaya kubata mhuka vanodzoka vakatakura iwewe,” she said dramatically. Daily News
