President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, armed with wide powers is expected to unveil a new cabinet team today, Reuters news agency said quoting sources.
One of the faces that is sure to drop out is the Vice President Joice Mujuru.
But she appears not willing to go into the oblivion without a fight.
Today, she blamed “a well-orchestrated smear campaign and gross abuse of state apparatus” that led to the loss of her ruling party post and shook Zimbabwean politics.
Mujuru, who once looked likely to succeed long-ruling President Robert Mugabe, has been accused of plotting to assassinate the 90-year-old and removed from the ruling ZANU-PF party’s central committee.
Mujuru said she was being victimised after exposing infiltrators conspiring to destroy the party, which has ruled the country since independence in 1980.
“I have become the fly in the web of lies whose final objective is the destruction of ZANU-PF and what it stands for and ultimately the present government,” Mujuru said in a statement.
“A vociferous attempt has been made to portray me as ‘a traitor’, ‘murderer’ and ‘sellout’, yet no iota of evidence has been produced to give credence to the allegations.”
ZANU-PF held an elective congress last week which endorsed Mugabe as president and his wife Grace as head of the women’s wing.
Mujuru did not attend following threats against her and her sympathisers by members of the party’s youth league.
“I decided to stay away from inevitable public humiliation as was meted out to other unfortunate members of the party,” she said.
“It was important to maintain the dignity of the office of the vice president even in the face of such unwarranted violence by a section of the party membership.”
In the lead-up to the congress, Mujuru came under attack after Mugabe’s wife Grace claimed the vice president was extorting money from companies and that she was fomenting factionalism.
Two of her allies — former party spokesman Rugare Gumbo and war veterans’ leader Jabulani Sibanda — were expelled from the party in a purge that also saw the suspension of lawmaker Enock Porusingazi.
Energy minister Dzikamai Mavhaire told AFP on Tuesday he had also been dismissed from his cabinet post.