Speculation is rife that one of the ZANU PF factions could be responsible
for the bomb plant so as to scuttle talks.
A pact of former ZAPU members is reportedly strongly opposed to the talks
and to date no former ZAPU official has publicly backed the talks.
On the other hand a Zanu PF faction led by Emmerson Mnangagwa is bitterly
opposed to the talks and is responsible for the violence that has continued
against MDC supporters that has claimed three lives since the run-off.
Last month we reported that soon after arriving back from the AU Summit in
Egypt, Mugabe met with the Joint Operations Command, namely Chiwenga,
Chihuri, Shiri, Mnangagwa, Zimondi and others and they agreed on a plan to
destroy the MDC completely but the plan was rejected by the Mujuru faction
which said violence will backfire.
The Mujuru faction is supportive of talks with the MDC and a real power
sharing deal,while the Mnangagwa faction is of the idea that any inclusion
of the MDC in government will destroy its political prospects.
Despite the fact that the Mnangagwa faction is represented in the talks by
Patrick Chinamasa,he does not have the full endorsement of the faction as
they suspect he is striking individual deals with the opposition to avoid
prosecution for corruption and political violence, leaving other faction
members exposed.
Last month when MDC Secretary General,Tendai Biti was in prison,the faction
sent its emissaries to interrogate Biti.
“There is so much distrust and suspicion in Zanu-PF that these people wanted
to verify what Goche and Chinamasa are after. There was a sense from the
questions that the interrogators thought Goche and Chinamasa were trying to
negotiate their own future and not protect everybody else at the top of the
party,” said a source.
Most members of the Mujuru faction have vast investments in Zimbabwe and
they are worried that Zimbabwe’s economy is collapsing ever more rapidly,
with prices of ordinary goods now running into billions of local dollars
amid 1,600,000% inflation, and ZANU PF has no answers.
So the only way to protect their investments is a negotiated settlement with
the MDC which will resuscitate the economy.
‘Do you think Gono can improve the economy,the only thing Gono is good at is
printing more Bearer cheques’ a source in the Mujuru faction told Metro
then.
Most members of the Mnagagwa faction are not in business and some including
Mnangagwa himself have invested outside Zimbabwe in China,Malaysia and DRC,
so there is a feeling that the economy to them is not a priority.
The Mnagagwa faction’s strategy is also to eliminate a few MDC MPs through
arrests from their strongholds, to compensate for loses on March 29 and
fight by-elections so they could have more MPs which could be strategic when
parliament votes for Mugabe ‘s successor.
Already most MDC MPs that have been arrested on thumped up charges unseated
Mnangagwa faction members including John Nyamande who unseated Patrick
Chinamasa,Sherperd Mushonga unseated Chenhamo Chimutengwende and Shuah
Mudiwa defeated Minister of Transport Chris Mushowe .
‘The strategy is to keep up the harassment of the MDC and completely
paralyse it to a state where they will accept anything,keeping Tsvangirai
away from assuming any senior position in government will mean options for
Mnagagwa are still open’, the source said.
Post published in: Opinions