Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday demoted long-serving Zanu PF secretary-general Obert Mpofu in a major reshuffle of the ruling party’s top leadership amid growing tension over his succession.
Mpofu, who now occupies the obscure post of secretary for information communication technology (ICT). was replaced by his Matabeleland North rival Jacob Mudenda in the engine of the troubled party.
The changes, announced by Zanu PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa in a brief statement, came just a few weeks before the Zanu PF national people’s conference set for Mutare next month and days after a stormy politburo meeting.
Mutsvangwa said Mnangagwa exercised his constitutional mandate to reorganise the structure of the politburo.
Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, who was the ICT secretary, was appointed secretary for legal affairs replacing Patrick Chinamasa who is now the treasurer-general, a position formerly occupied by Mudenda.
“This reorganisation underscores the party’s enduring commitment to the policies, tenets and ethos of the party, Zanu PF and the permanent Zimbabwe revolution in service to the people and to the nation of Zimbabwe,” Mutsvangwa said.
The announcement came a day after the Zanu PF spokesperson launched an unrestrained attack on Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, who last week presented a dossier to Mnangagwa exposing alleged corruption by his associates.
Mutsvangwa accused Chiwenga of being too ambitious and ambushing the Zanu PF leader.
Political analyst Eldred Masunungure described the infighting as “increasingly vicious” warning that the struggles in the Zanu PF “cockpit are real”.
Masunungure said the power struggle could take an ugly turn going towards the Mutare conference.
“There is also a seeming resemblance to the vashandi vs zvigananda ‘struggles within the struggle’ of the mid-1970s with distinct echoes of a class struggle of sorts,” he said.
“That phase had a bloody ending and hopefully that will not be reproduced this time around. The long and short of it is that the goings-on in the party are not a mere distraction.
“These dynamics must also not be misread by the public (especially the opposition — that which remains) as signalling the demise of the party and its regime.”
Masunungure said post-conference Zanu PF would be qualitatively not different from the pre-conference situation.
“If anything, the gladiation will likely be either more vicious (hopefully bloodless) or more subtle in a Machiavellian sense,” he said.
“There will clearly be winners and losers at Mutare, but it is difficult to imagine the losers giving the other cheek.”
Another political commentator Tendai Ruben Mbofana said the latest appointments were a clear strategy towards the 2030 agenda.
Mbofana said the strategy also included the elevation of Kudakwashe Tagwirei and protecting him from both consequences and being blocked from ascending in the hierarchy.
“So the most notable change there is of Obert Mpofu,” he said.
“We know that as secretary-general he was very upfront in resisting Tagwirei’s elevation and they clashed, remember a few (times) one or two months back with Chinamasa regarding Tagwirei.
“So for him now to be removed from the secretary-general’s post to ICT, that is clearly being cast away, you know, into something that is irrelevant.
“He has been demoted effectively because the secretary-general’s post, if I am not mistaken, is the fourth most powerful post within the party.”
Mbofana said Chinamasa, as the party’s treasurer-general, had been rewarded for supporting the ascendancy of Tagwirei.
“And also remember those explosive revelations by VP (Constantino) Chiwenga that Tagwirei was syphoning, you know, about US$3 billion or so of Zanu PF money that is in shares, 45% shares in Sakunda Holdings,” he said. “So who’s responsible for investments that are made by Zanu PF? “It’s the treasurer-general.”
Mbofana said Mudenda was being rewarded for enabling the capture of Parliament and the opposition.
“So I am sure he is now being rewarded as a trustworthy loyalist, who will now be given the assignment of running the party on a day-to-day basis, which is really the job of the secretary-general,” Mbofana said.
“So this to me is nothing short of Mnangagwa safeguarding his 2030 agenda just ahead of the party conference using those reassignments.”
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