BY CHIEF REPORTER
HARARE
President Robert Mugabe has declared his former Finance Minister and election rival Simba Makoni enemy number one and has ordered his ruling party to “put him in his place without fail,” senior Zanu (PF) sources told The Zimbabwean this week.
Mugabe has ordered Zanu (PF) political commissar Elliot Manyika to make sure that Makoni’s presidential bid fails dramatically, using any innovative strategies he thinks necessary and with an unlimited budget.
Zanu (PF) insiders said Mugabe described Makoni as an “ungrateful, greedy power- monger” during a meeting of the party’s powerful politburo last week.
“The President said Makoni had lied to him in his meeting at Munhumutapa Building, where he denied reports linking him to presidential ambitions,” said one Zanu (PF) official who attended the meeting.
“Mukuru said he was stunned when, hardly two weeks later, he announced he was challenging him, without even communicating this new position to him as a matter of courtesy.”
He continued: “Mukuru emphasised that his failure should be guaranteed and that he had shown total disdain for him. In fact, he emphasised that he should be treated as an enemy, since he had chosen this path for himself.” Â
Another senior Zanu (PF) official said Mugabe also vowed to make sure Makoni did not continue basking in the Zanu (PF) limelight he used as a launch pad for his presidential bid.
He said: “The President is not amused at all, in fact he is extremely edgy, agitated and angry at Makoni. He betrayed his confidence. He stood by him when everybody wanted him kicked out. He vowed that he would not allow him to set foot in State House.”
Manyika responded that the party wanted to “win all the parliamentary seats, all the senate seats, all the council seats and also use the poll to put Makoni and Tsvangirai in the dustbins of history.
“Of course we will also show Makoni his real place. He is a nobody and we will leave him with no illusion about that,” said Manyika.
Post published in: News