The plot to emasculate the political profile of Zimbabwe’s vice-president Joice Mujuru, appears to have taken another dimension with her being accused by supporters of Grace Mugabe, of being at the centre of a plot to assassinate the 90-year-old Zimbabwean leader.
“That is a straightforward treason case,” prominent Harare lawyer Jonathan Samkange was quoted as saying by the Sunday Mail.
“The police should take action, arrest the accused and charge them with treason.”
Zimbabwe’s official Sunday Mail is controlled by a faction of Zanu-PF, led by Mujuru’s arch-rival, Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa is believed to be behind Grace Mugabe’s political rise. The minister was reportedly pushing for Mujuru to be sacked as vice-president at a Zanu-PF congress in December.
The Sunday Mail reported that former Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo was recorded making an assassination threat against Mugabe.
The newspaper further claimed that ruling party official Didymus Mutasa suggested that Mugabe would be “shot” if he sided with Mnangagwa’s faction.
Both Gumbo and Mutasa are supporters of Mujuru.
Mujuru was until this year one of the strongest contenders to succeed Mugabe, who has been in power in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.
In July, however, the president’s 49-year-old wife was nominated to lead the ruling party’s women’s league and she immediately launched a campaign to discredit Mujuru.
A few days ago, the ZANU-PF politburo meeting chaired by President Mugabe himself, suspended key members of the party, believed close to Mujuru. Analysts said the move was designed to weaken Joice Mujuru’s political base.
Among the officials suspended are National party spokesman Rugare Gumbo, war veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda and half the party’s provincial chairmen, citing “disciplinary issues”.
“All these decisions taken by the politburo are with immediate effect,” ZANU-PF national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo told reporters, without giving details.
Grace Mugabe, a former typist, who has taken a honorary doctorate degree, to square up with Joice Mujuru, is said to be interested in succeeding her husband
*With reports by City Press of South Africa