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Full plate for Mugabe at politburo

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PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe will have his plate full when he presides over the ruling Zanu PF party’s politburo meeting today and the central committee tomorrow.

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe will have his plate full when he presides over the ruling Zanu PF party’s politburo meeting today and the central committee tomorrow.

BY RICHARD CHIDZA

Mugabe continues to follow a punishing schedule and with his party on the brink due to vicious internal power struggles, the 91-year-leader has to exercise extreme caution to keep warring factions in check.

According to sources, the politburo and central committee meetings will discuss the factionalism that is gnawing at the party and preparations for the Zanu PF annual conference set for December.

It is also understood that the politburo will also discuss pending disciplinary cases, as well a growing internal push to recall more lawmakers reportedly aligned to ousted former Vice-President Joice Mujuru.

“There are a lot of MPs linked to Mujuru still occupying important space within the party, they should be recalled to allow for loyal members to set the foundation for the 2018 general elections,” a party insider said.

“Most of these MPs are using the constituencies they represent to campaign for Mujuru’s People First project, which Zanu PF cannot afford.”

Primary and Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora is among a host of other MPs who have survived the chop so far, but have pending disciplinary cases over alleged Mujuru sympathies.

Mujuru, together with former secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and ex-ruling party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo, were kicked out on allegations of plotting to oust Mugabe.

The former VP is now linked with a political project known as People First and reports have indicated she controls no less than 70 MPs in the current legislature dominated by Zanu PF.

Zanu PF political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere professed ignorance of the calls to recall parliamentarians linked to Mujuru. “I am in Rushinga and I have not heard anything related to that,” was all he said.

Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo referred questions to secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo.

“I would not want to comment on the agenda of a meeting whose contents I have not yet seen. Please talk to Chombo, he would be much more in the know as to what is going to be discussed at the two meetings,” Moyo said.

Chombo was not available for comment.

Despite Mujuru’s ouster, Zanu PF has remained on the edge with bitter fighting between a faction reportedly fronted by Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa and another called G40, or Generation 40, that has, among its ranks, Kasukuwere, Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao and Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo.