Break-ins scare Zanu PF chefs

By Tendai Kamhungira

As the Zanu PF succession wars enter a new phase, the list of unexplained break-ins at premises of the ruling party’s bigwigs continues to grow, in a development analysts say indicates the depth of the acrimony between the party members.

Observers say the incessant break-ins are inside jobs, aimed at sourcing information to outmanoeuvre one another as the battle to succeed President Robert Mugabe continues unabated.

The protagonists in the battle to succeed the 93-year-old Zanu PF strongman include two significant factions antagonistic to each other, the Generation 40 (G40) and its arch-rival Team Lacoste.

The latter is rooting for Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to succeed Mugabe, while the former is having none of it.

Political analyst, Maxwell Saungweme, told the Daily News on Sunday that the break-ins are further proof of how daring the factions are in their pursuit of power and that there are no sacred cows in the bloody fights.

“The break-ins show that no one is safe in Zanu PF. That the cases have never been concluded raises more questions than answers. Those are some indicators of implosion of the party from within. They are turning against each other,” he said.

The well documented break-ins have been taking place over the past three years, with the latest being the one at Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi’s Borrowdale residence.

This had been preceded by a list of other break-ins at senior government officials’ offices that include Mnangagwa, Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo, Macro-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion minister Obert Mpofu and the late former chief justice Godfrey Chidyausiku.

Mnangagwa has been probably the biggest victim of the break-ins since his appointment as the country’s vice president in 2014.

However, what is interesting about all this is that the outcome of the investigations has never been made public.

Mnangagwa was appointed the vice president after the sacking of Mugabe’s former deputy, Joice Mujuru and several party bigwigs, on accusations of attempting to topple Mugabe in 2014 as the factional combat reached a crescendo.

This is, however, not surprising as there are many other examples where the police have not made public the outcome of their investigations, making analysts suspect and conclude that the investigations revealed sensitive information linked to the Zanu PF succession fights.

The break-in at Chidyausiku’s offices took place in 2014, where the thieves went away with a desktop computer and a television set among some of the items.

At Mpofu’s offices, in the 2015 break-in, nothing was stolen, while thieves went away with two laptops and other electrical gadgets, when they broke into Moyo’s offices last year.

What boggles the minds of many citizens is how frequent these break-ins are taking place and how the “thieves” are managing to gain entry at these officials’ premises considering that these places are always guarded by armed police officers.

It would be daring for a thief to trespass on such premises without expecting the worst, making the break-ins more suspicious.

Some have been wondering if the general members of public are safe in a country, where “thieves” can pounce on the place of residence of the Defence minister, who has so much security.

Shakespeare Hamauswa, a political analyst, said without doubt, the break-ins are linked to the Zanu PF succession wars.

“Those break-ins are a manifestation of the succession wars. The security system in Zimbabwe is sophisticated such that they could have concluded what was going on,” he said.

In the Sekeramayi case, the break-in took place after his name was thrown into the succession race by Moyo, while he was presenting a paper at Sapes Trust.

Moyo, who is largely believed to be a G40 member, threw Sekeramayi to the deep end, with analysts suspecting the Defence minister is now the cabal’s leader, literally pitting him against Mnangagwa.

With the succession issue blowing high and hot, it has become the only reason outside any police investigations that people attribute to the break-ins.

“The victims have been linked to succession war in Zanu PF. This gives credence to the assumption that the break-ins are a continuation of the succession war through other means,” Hamauswa said. Daily News