Mphoko vs Mnangagwa: Turf war re-emerges

By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |

The factional turf war between President Robert Mugabe’s deputies has resumed after a long lull, with one of them, Phelekezela Mphoko, accusing war veterans who back his colleague and rival, Emmerson Mnangagwa, of treason.

The war veterans body, which is also reportedly backed by the majority of Zimbabwe’s generals, recently endorsed Mnangagwa as Mugabe’s successor and warned of bloodshed if that did not happen.

However, Mphoko addressed an extraordinary provincial Zanu (PF) committee meeting in Matebeleland North on Thursday and blasted the war veterans for revealing that they had resolved to back Mnangagwa when Mugabe, 92, finally goes.

He said Douglas Mahiya, the war vets’ spokesman, Christopher Mutsvangwa, the chair, and secretary general, Victor Matemadanda, behaved like super ex-fighters.

“I want to advise these people from my professional point of view. I’m a military man and I trained very well and I’ve been a commander.

“War vets, never ever deceive yourselves, some of you are walking on a very dangerous course, you’re walking on the line of treason and subversion,” said Mphoko.

“These people go around talking about me, the First Lady and attack the President indirectly. That’s treason and insubordination.

“In actual fact, building someone when the President is alive and still in office, you talk about me and say I will take over, what does that mean in military terms, it’s a coup, it’s subversion, you can go to any military annals,” he added.

Mphoko reportedly belongs to the Generation 40 (G-40) faction that is backing Mugabe to continue in office after the next elections in 2018, while Mnangagwa leads another faction dubbed Lacoste that is keen to see the president retire.

War veterans are said to be working closely with Mnangagwa and the generals who were miffed by remarks from Mugabe’s wife, Grace, who denigrated and accused them of trying to bomb the first family’s private business and kill their son, Chatunga, recently.

Mphoko claimed that the war veterans were a bunch of ill-advised people using a document titled “Blue Ocean” to plot against G40 members.

“These boys have a document titled Blue Ocean. It’s a document which is quite big, that’s where they get the strategy that guides them. Their target is the so called G40 but I don’t know where they get that,” he said.

“Their strategy is that they will undermine everyone they perceive G40 and say a lot of lies to destroy you. This is a subversive book.

“If anyone here is a member of that group, you’re a subversive person. You can’t talk about the position of the President when he is still in office,” said Mphoko.

Another Zanu (PF) bigwig who attended the meeting, Obert Mpofu, also blasted the war veterans, adding that Mugabe was ordained by God and must not be removed.

Mpofu and Mnangagwa do not see eye to eye, and the latter is rumoured to have played an active role in his removal from the transport ministry to the current investment portfolio.

The former freedom fighters are increasingly getting bold in their criticism of Mugabe who used to be regarded as a sacred cow.

Some of their members have openly described Grace as a woman of loose morals and the war vets leadership recently fell short of calling Mugabe a dictator for creating a centre of power revolving solely around the president.

They have also rubbished Mugabe’s position that they are not part of the Zanu (PF) formation.

The tiff between Mnangagwa and Mphoko started in 2014 when the latter dismissed claims that he was junior to his counterpart.

Subsequently, Mphoko declared during a Mashonaland Central rally organised by Grace that a Karanga leader, in reference to Mnangagwa, would not rule Zimbabwe. Nehanda Radio