Over the years, Joice Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa have been touted as possible successors to President Robert Mugabe. Mujuru is Mugabe’s deputy both in the party and government where she is Vice President, while Mnangagwa, a former personal aide of the president, is the secretary for legal affairs and Justice Minister.
Besides the two, Sydney Sekeramayi, the current defence minister, is considered a dark horse, together with former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono.
“All the people whose names are being thrown around as possible successors of President Mugabe are tainted. They are therefore not presidential stuff,” Mliswa said in a recent interview with The Zimbabwean.
“They have failed to run their own offices. How then can they run a whole nation? They are all corrupt and we don’t want corrupt people to lead this country,” said the outspoken Mliswa, who stands accused of forcefully taking over private companies and extortion.
He recently caused a stir when Billy Rautenbach, a business tycoon linked to Zanu (PF), accused him of extorting millions of dollars from him in the name of facilitating business deals.
Mliswa maintained that Rautenbach must pay him for doing consultancy work, but it emerged that the MP had merely attempted to link him to powerful Zanu (PF) politicians.
The temperamental legislator is nephew to Didymus Mutasa, the Zanu (PF) national secretary for administration and Minister of State in Mugabe’s office.
“All the people who had the legitimacy to succeed Mugabe are dead,” added Mliswa, who has been linked to the Mujuru faction.
Mnangagwa has over the years been reported to be involved illegal mining and gold panning deals but he has dismissed the allegations.
Mujuru, on the other hand, is generally considered clean, even though there have been reports of underhand dealings at Dande Holdings, where she and her late husband, Solomon, were believed to have shares.
Gono’s former advisor, Munyaradzi Kereke, last year approached the courts to force the trial of the ex-RBZ governor on graft during his tenure at the apex bank. Kereke, among other things, claims Gono diverted millions of dollars from RBZ to personal use, bribed anti-graft commissioners and abused a farm mechanization fund meant to benefit local farmers.
Sekeramayi is seen as reserved and not much is known about his personal or business life. He has for decades been in charge of security departments. Mugabe is reportedly getting disillusioned with Mnangagwa and Mujuru, recently telling a gathering in Mashonaland West that they were not guaranteed to succeed him.
Post published in: News