First Lady and Zanu PF Women’s League secretary Grace Mugabe is not interested in succeeding President Mugabe as insinuated by sections of the private media, her deputy, Eunice Nomthandazo Moyo, said yesterday.
In an interview with The Chronicle, Moyo said the subject was discussed during the Women’s League national executive meeting in Harare on Wednesday, where the leadership expressed concern over the ‘misconception’ over the First Lady’s position.
“The issue of the First Lady harbouring ambitions to succeed His Excellency (President Mugabe) is misleading. We’ve not discussed that as the Women’s League and we don’t know where it’s coming from,” she said.
Moyo said the Wednesday meeting discussed the Women League’s resolutions ahead of the December 2015 Zanu PF annual national people’s conference, which seem to have been misconstrued. The party’s conference was held in Victoria Falls.
“It came to our attention as the Women’s League executive that our resolutions for the conference were not clearly understood hence we needed to clarify that.
“Resolution number three talks about the restoration of the position of women in the Presidium, which must be done through an amendment to the party’s constitution so that one of the Vice Presidents is a woman,” Moyo explained.
“We’ve said we wanted the constitution to be amended by 2016 and not that we wanted the Vice Presidency by 2016. What we want this year is to have the constitution corrected so that when the time to elect leaders comes (at congress in 2018) one of the VPs will be a woman. This has to be clear so that we’re protected by the constitution as women.”
Moyo, who is also Minister of State for Provincial Affairs in Bulawayo, said the league’s recommendation for a constitutional amendment should not be taken out of context and be confused with “succession” politics. She said as an organ of the party, Zanu PF, the Women’s League was fully behind the First Family.
“We want to set the record straight because some people are being misled. As the Women’s League we’re in solidarity with the First Family.
“We always work and go with the First Lady and at no point has she declared an ambition for any higher post. In fact, she has said she is content where she is. People should stop giving her a position she has not asked for.” The Chronicle
