confidentially speaking
The Africa Confidential Blog
Mujuru's move
Blue Lines
Zimbabwe's political scene
has opened up this week as former
Vice-President Joice Mujuru
launched her new party, Zimbabwe People
First. ZANU-PF is riven by factionalism as the race to succeed
President Mugabe intensifies.
Mujuru's new party is the most important
new contender since Morgan Tsvangirai
launched the MDC in 2000, a party
which has all but fallen apart from internal divisions. She could bring
across strong support from the beleaguered ZANU-PF.
But what, her enemies still in ZANU-PF ask, can Mujuru can offer
that she could not over the last 35 years of working under Mugabe?
Courage is one answer. She has broken with Mugabe, and then shrugged
off bizarre accusations of plotting against him. Her ZANU-PF supporters
have long outnumbered those of Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Already, a group of youngish Turks around Grace Mugabe has launched its
own plot to scupper Mnangagwa's ambitions to succeed Mugabe. Now
Mnangagwa could be caught between Grace and Joice.
Mujuru is the first ZANU-PF insider with clout and liberation-war
credibility to break ranks and offer an alternative to Mugabe. Indeed,
Mnangagwa may find that the casting out of Mujuru from ZANU-PF could
have been the end, not the beginning, of his chances of succeeding
Mugabe. The sight of four former ZANU-PF ministers, and ambassadors
from Western countries, on the podium at Mujuru's launch event cannot
have encouraged him.
