‘Croc’ denies Moyo ‘twar’; Politburo meets

Saviour Kasukuwere and Emmerson Mnangagwa

The country’s Higher and Tertiary Education Minister is under fire for fanning factionalism and using his Twitter account to attack party rivals, chief among them, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mnangagwa however denied the ruling party was riven by divisions on Tuesday.

“We read about these things from the Press,” Mnangagwa said as he launched a billion-dollar appeal for food aid in the capital.

“In Zanu PF, we are very comfortable and we are brothers and comrades, but we read about these things you are talking about in the Press and I do not know where you get them from.

“This is why, as a very revolutionary Government and progressive (party), we have been able to do what we are doing to make sure we take care of the lives of our people.”

Moyo’s controversial use of social media against warnings by his boss, President Robert Mugabe has further infuriated war veterans who feel the Tsholotsho North legislator was undermining the country’s leadership.

The war veterans, who form a militant section of President Mugabe’s support base, have vowed to block Moyo from attending the Zanu PF elite meeting, a threat which was countered in similar fashion by Moyo’s ally and party political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere.

If Moyo finds his way into the meeting, it may not be the end of his troubles after all as he will most likely come under strong rebuke from party rivals who have demanded his ouster for inflaming an already volatile situation in the beleaguered party.

President Mugabe is also under pressure to reprimand a minister he once fired from government 2005 for an almost similar offence.

Social media concern

Moyo’s fate could best be understood from the stinging diatribe he received from Presidential spokesperson George Charamba who said in a radio interview two weeks ago that Moyo will “soon come to grief”.

It was the first time Moyo’s former junior when he was still Information Minister has been so forthright with the former political science professor turned senior government official.

This, coming from someone who could be privy to President Mugabe’s mindset, was interpreted to mean the near 92-year-old leader had something in the offing for his troublesome minister.

Zanu PF spokesperson, Simon Khaya Moyo has also revealed the politburo meeting will tackle the abuse of social media by senior party officials.

“The President says we must avoid social media,” SK Moyo was quoted in state media last week.

“We are a party with structures and where we have situations of transgressions they should be brought to the party through relevant structures.

“If somebody raises those issues (at the politburo meeting), I think the party will come up with a position.”

Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri last week seemingly waded into the Zanu PF internecine fights when he warned Zimbabweans to desist from using social media to scorn their compatriots.

Chihuri, who did not mention names, said the abuse of social media had the potential to cause instability in the country.

Moyo, observers say, owes his survival, during his current political life in Zanu PF, to his allegiance to the First Lady Grace Mugabe, together with some equally adventurous so-called young turks who form the shadowy Generation 40 group.

G40 is involved in a fierce underground tussle for control of Zanu PF ahead of what now seems to be President Robert Mugabe’s imminent exit from politics.