The chief backer is former Army Commander General Solomon Mujuru and leading candidates are the former Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army's intelligence chief Dumiso Dabengwa and the former Finance Minister Simba Makoni...
Simba Makoni is yet to comment on the new party...
It has been launched by ZANU-PF stalwart-turned-dissident General Solomon Mujuru with support from other ZANU-PF figures such as the well regarded Simba Makoni and publisher Ibbo Mandaza...
That leaves Mujuru as the only senior party official still fighting to oust Mugabe but his plan is unclear: some say he wants his wife to get the job (but the two are no longer close) others say he backs former Finance Minister Simba Makoni...
Manicaland: Didymus Mutasa Patrick Chinamasa Simba Makoni Kumbirai Kangai Munacho Mutezo Joseph Made Mike Nyambuya Chris Mushowe Victoria Chitepo Morton Malianga Muchinguri...
Mujuru wants a president who will protect his business interests; some reports say he does not even depend on his wife and is courting an outsider former SADC Executive Secretary Simba Makoni...
Mugabe wants to keep everyone guessing: is it Mujuru Mnangagwa Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono technocrat Simba Makoni or Matebeleland’s John Nkomo...
ZANU-PF's best hope would be a reconciliation candidate such as Simba Makoni who kept away from the past decade's thuggery and corruption; he was Secretary General of the Southern African Development Community and is now in business respected across the political spectrum but perhaps without the grit to take on the hard men...
His support for Manicaland's Simba Makoni has not yet convinced local heavyweights who include Didymus Mutasa Secretary for Administration and Minister of Security and Lands; Patrick Chinamasa Justice Minister needed by any successor for his legal drafting skills; the mercurial Kumbirai Kangai; Water Minister Munacho Mutezo; Agriculture Minister Joseph Made; provincial Governor Mike Nyambuya; Transport Minister Chris Mushowe; and Women's League leader Oppah Muchinguri...
Simba Makoni Zimbabwe's ex-Finance Minister and ex-Executive Secretary Southern African Development Community; he's the official SADC candidate; he has tried unsuccessfully to distance himself from the stigma of being President Robert Mugabe's candidate; many non-regional shareholders (which control 34...
We hear that view is not shared by the Central Committee's investigation panel which is chaired by Deputy Finance Minister David Karimanzira and includes Mujuru Obert Mpofu former Finance Minister Simba Makoni and Thoko Mathuthu...
The most interesting - but still to be confirmed candidacy - would be that of Zimbabwe's former Finance Minister Simba Makoni...
