Sydney Sekeramayi Fallout Grows

The fallout in President Robert Mugabe ’s ruling Zanu PF over the mention last week of introverted Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi as ...

The fallout in President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF over the mention last week of introverted Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi as a possible future leader of the warring former liberation movement is escalating by the day.

So bad is the emotive saga becoming, that disgruntled former freedom fighters warned yesterday that Mugabe and Zanu PF even risked facing an “open rebellion” from miffed party faithfuls if they do not stem the “growing attacks” on Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa by senior party officials.

The warning by the war veterans comes in the wake of last week’s withering criticism of Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF backers by politburo member and Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo — during his presentation at Sapes Trust in Harare where he threw Sekeramayi’s name into the party’s deadly succession brawl.

However, Moyo — who Zanu PF insiders claim is one of the kingpins of the Generation 40 (G40) faction which is rabidly opposed to Mnangagwa succeeding Mugabe — made it clear then that he was not speaking on behalf of the party during his presentation.

In the meantime, the angry war veterans also warned Sekeramayi at the weekend that it would be a “big mistake and miscalculation” on his part if he “ever allowed his head to be turned by the unusual praise” that he had received from Moyo.

Yesterday, the disaffected ex-combatants also implored Mugabe to act against Moyo to dispel “any lingering doubts” that the Tsholotsho North legislator was acting on “assignment by the president” in his escalating demolition job on Mnangagwa — who has been touted in some Zanu PF circles as a shoo-in to succeed the nonagenarian.

Speaking to the Daily News late yesterday, the secretary-general of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), Victor Matemadanda, also warned that Zanu PF could implode if Mugabe did not take action against the G40 faction.

“Moyo, as far as the revolution is concerned, has nothing useful to say about Zanu PF politics. He is just a master of division.

“He (Moyo) must just go . . . Zanu PF has lost direction because of people like Jonathan . . . These people (G40) are a threat to peace and national security,” Matemadanda claimed.

During his Sapes presentation, Moyo appeared to endorse Sekeramayi as Mugabe’s more acceptable successor compared to Mnangagwa.

“The notion peddled by the so-called Team Lacoste that its leader is the only one who is above or senior to everyone else below President Mugabe is false and that falsehood should stop. There are others that are senior to the leader of the so-called Team Lacoste.

“One of them, by way of an important example, is . . . Sekeramayi whose loyalty to . . . Mugabe, the party and country; whose liberation credentials, experience, consensus-style of leadership, stature, commitment to the nationalist project and humility have no match,” he said then.

This prompted the miffed war veterans to warn Sekeramayi that he risked ending his political career if he allowed his head to be turned by Moyo’s “unusual praise”.

“Sekeramayi should be wary of the G40 faction, whose idea is to isolate the president from former liberation war comrades.

“They (G40) have attacked ED (Mnangagwa) before, and now they are setting up Sekeramayi for failure,” Matemadanda told the Daily News’ sister paper, the Daily News on Sunday, at the weekend.

“But the big question is: Are leaders in Zanu PF so weak that they don’t see this threat that Jonathan Moyo poses in the party and to the revolution?

“Or is it that someone is using him for some personal aggrandisement? Is there any benefit for the revolution knowing his (Moyo’s) history and his record as a minister to keep him in the party?” he asked further.

Yesterday, forthright ZNLWVA spokesperson Douglas Mahiya, also chipped in saying the ruling party’s alleged failure to discipline Moyo could “trigger chaos” in the deeply-divided former liberation movement.

“The Zanu PF constitution was designed to discredit people who took part in the liberation struggle. That is why you hear people like Moyo saying what they are saying.

“However, the question is: where does he get his powers? Are the powers borrowed? Who is being protected by who? There is now no democracy in the ruling party anymore,” Mahiya said.

The former liberation movement’s spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said the war veterans had not formally complained about Moyo’s conduct.

“They have not written to us and they should engage us on what action they want taken against people who are fanning factionalism,” Khaya Moyo told the Daily News.

Zanu PF is currently being ripped apart by serious infighting which has worsened in recent months as party bigwigs have escalated their mindless bloodletting.

Insiders have consistently said that underlying the former liberation movement’s deadly and seemingly unstoppable tribal and factional wars is its unresolved succession question.

Mugabe has studiously refused to name a successor, arguing that his party should rather follow what he sees as a more democratic process, to manage his succession via a congress.
Source: Daily News

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