Zanu PF is vigorously pursuing individuals who reportedly met with United States diplomats in Harare and discussed issues deemed as undermining the authority of party leader, President Robert Mugabe, it emerged on Sunday.
Insiders said President Mugabe was so enraged that he was expected to wield the axe on officials caught up in the explosive diplomatic cables.
President Mugabe has not publicly commented on the matter, but insiders said the former guerilla leader was seething with anger.
A team set up by the Zanu PF politburo will soon present its findings after weeks of studying the cables, dispatched to Washington but intercepted and leaked by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
Top officials, including the two VicePresidents, Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo, reportedly met top US envoys and allegedly expressed their desire to see President Mugabe step down.
Although Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo played down the effects caused by the leaked cables when he told journalists last week the party would not be divided by the disclosures, it has now emerged that officials implicated in the cables will soon face the music.
Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa confirmed to NewsDay yesterday that action would be taken against individuals implicated in the leaked cables.
Mutasa, President Mugabe’s confidant, declined to divulge those studying the WikiLeaks saying: “The details are not necessary. All you need to know is that we are doing something about the WikiLeaks.
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Whoever is studying the WikiLeaks is our business.” Mutasa said it was Zanu PF’s desire to have the results of the investigations released quickly. “It’s also our desire to make known what we are doing,” he said.
Political analysts and observers said it was always clear those implicated in the leaked cables would be censured by the party.
(President) Mugabe no longer trusts anyone,” said Blessing Vava. “He is a shrewd politician and he has done his homework on how he is going to deal with those implicated. He is just taking his time. The punishment might be delayed, but it’s definitely coming and probably at the December conference. (President) Mugabe is one man who does not easily forgive.”
Charles Mangongera, a Harare-based political analyst said the WikiLeaks have emerged as one of the most vexatious issues in the history of Zanu PF.
Social and political observer, Dehwa Mavhinga said : “Zanu PF has every reason to be very worried about WikiLeaks’ revelations that indicate widespread concern within the party about President Mugabe’s continued leadership at a time the party had endorsed him as Zanu PF’s presidential candidate for next elections.”
Last week Jonathan Moyo, a Zanu PF politburo member, called for individuals implicated in the leaked cable reports to be prosecuted for allegedly compromising national security.
Moyo said it would be “naïve” on the part of those who allegedly held clandestine discussions with US diplomats to think the matter was water under the bridge.
