President Robert Mugabe is under pressure from an unlikely political spectre: it is not the British, nor is it Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), twin dark forces that have haunted him in the last two decades. This time, the spectre is a man who has been the fulcrum of his rule; his deputy in the party and government, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
With a challenge mounted through his political surrogates and lately by quietly supporting the protest movements, Mnangagwa, in a subtle way, seems to have declared war on Mugabe. Though challenging Mugabe is an unprecedented political endeavour, it does not mean that there hasn't been before attempts to challenge him. Indeed, to be sure, many within the ruling party have wanted Mugabe to go from the day that he took over in 1980. But without any real political strategy to depose Mugabe, most of them have confined their challenges to verbal attacks. Indeed, apart from former vice-president Joice Mujuru's failed bid, few have had the tactical sagacity to directly challenge Zimbabwe's strongman.
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