Vusumuzi Sifile and Nkululeko Sibanda
12 November 2009
ZANU PF chairman John Nkomo has all but secured the post of vice president after ex-PF Zapu leaders endorsed him at a meeting held in Bulawayo recently. Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa, Simon Khaya Moyo also got the crucial endorsement to take over as party chairman, sources who attended the meeting said.
Although, Zanu PF officials remained tight lipped on Thursday's meeting, impeccable sources said the two now had an unassailable advantage.
Zanu PF provinces will on Saturday nominate a successor to the late Vice President Joseph Msika, bringing a close to the race that threatened to tear Zanu PF apart.
Sources who attended the meeting said Nkomo and Moyo won the seal of approval after a frank discussion on the roles all the contenders played in the party that was once led by veteran nationalist and late Vice President Joshua Nkomo.
Mines Minister, Obert Mpofu, deputy president of the Senate Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu, former Youth and Indiginisation minister Ambrose Mutinhiri and Bulawayo governor Cain Mathema fell by the way side after their credentials were questioned.
Ndlovu had argued that he was the next on the line since he was PF Zapu chairman when the Unity Accord was signed in 1987.
Sources in the former PF-ZAPU said there were "serious reservations" about Ndlovu's bid for the Vice Presidency, and the national chairmanship.
While Ndlovu is indeed more senior than most of his former cadres, the sources said there had been questions on his motive, considering that he did not show any interest when Nkomo was elected chairman twice in 1999 and 2004.
"For example, during the liberation war, it is known that Ndlovu deserted other cadres when his wife came over to Zambia, and instead went into farming in Mumba," said the source.
"There are some issues about his past that make Ndlovu seriously doubtable. That is why people are now even considering the option of considering even people from the former Zanu for the chairmanship.
'But this still will create problems because the presidium should have four people, two from each of the parties."
The source said a former Zanu member could only become national chairman when a former Zapu member takes the presidency.
"In that case, the two parties will still maintain the current arrangement regarding vice presidents.
"It would basically be a swapping of positions for the president and national chairman," the source added.
Nkomo is widely tipped as the heir apparent to Mugabe.
The source said although there were some who had doubts about Nkomo after he remained in government when his Zapu colleagues quit in the early 1980s, he had been the most consistent of the remaining lot.
Despite his name being mentioned more prominently than other contenders for the VP's position, Nkomo has consistently refused to comment on the issue.
Yesterday at Msika's memorial, he avoided mentioning the issue.
In an interview after the memorial service, Nkomo just said: "We have always said that ZANU PF has procedures that were laid down years ago and those procedures will apply."
He looks set to romp to victory despite attempts by Zanu PF's Bulawayo province to distance itself from a resolution to nominate the former Home Affairs minister for the top post.
Bulawayo was the first province to publicly back Nkomo last month but the provincial executive has since written a letter to Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa disassociating itself from the nomination.
The province accused politburo and central committee members from the region of trying to impose Nkomo after Sikhanyiso Ndlovu announced the decision without consulting them.
"Yes we wrote to Mutasa about the issue. We were merely expressing concern at the manner in which some of our colleagues were conducting themselves," said Zanu PF provincial chairman Isaac Dakamela.
"We have to get into an agreement on some of these things. But when you see others speaking before an agreement is made, then there is a problem.
"What we were saying was that there should be no rush in announcing these things until and unless all of us are agreed on the same position."
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