Chiwenga for President?

According to an authoritative Zanu (PF) source, also a retired Colonel,

Chiwenga could soon quit the military to go into fulltime politics. Another source, a Politburo member, said Chiwenga’s interest in taking over from President Robert Mugabe had infuriated the Mnangagwa faction – currently leading the succession race. Emmerson Mnangagwa, the current Minister of Defence, has consistently entrenched his power since 1980 by making himself indispensable to Mugabe.

Nicknamed “The Crocodile” and well-known for his ruthlessness, he and his tight-knit group of top military and security officials in the shadowy Joint Operations Command allegedly directed the violence that reversed Mugabe’s stunning defeat in 2008. Mnangagwa was Mugabe’s chief election agent.

Another Zanu (PF) Politburo source corroborated that indeed there was now friction in Mugabe’s team amid fresh reports that Chiwenga had joined the race. But the general is said to be maintaining the facade that he supports the Mujuru faction, led by retired army general Solomon Mujuru, husband to vice president Joice Mujuru.

The factionalism has festered over the years but Mnangagwa’s camp has gained the upper hand after Joice Mujuru, 55, was linked to the formation of Mavambo, the opposition party fronted by Simba Makoni.

Fresh details of Chiwenga joining the race have heightened concerns that the three-way succession fight could destroy the party. A Zanu (PF) succession committee, formed to paper over the cracks, has been dissolved due to friction. The Politburo Succession Committee was composed of Vice President John Nkomo, Mnangagwa, who is also the partys secretary for legal affairs, General Solomon Mujuru, Women’s League chairperson, Oppah Muchinguri, secretary for national security, Sydney Sekeramai and administration secretary Didymus Mutasa.

While the party has chosen Mugabe to continue as its leader for the next five years, many are concerned the internal divisions were becoming even more internecine as concerns about the President’s health increase. Last Friday he flew back to Singapore for an eye check up after the removal of a cataract during his annual holiday. The President’s spokesman George Charamba has consistently denied claims that the President was suffering from cancer.

Our source said there was now widespread acknowledgement that the President’s days were numbered. This reality has dangerously heightened tensions in Zanu (PF) and focused their minds on what happens after Mugabe.

Chiwenga the man

Constantine Chiwenga was born in 1956 in Hwedza. He attended St Mary’s Mission in Hwedza, together with Air Marshal Perence Shiri and Brigadier General Shungu, Commander of the Mechanised Brigade. They left school together in form 4, 1973, to join Zanla in Mozambique.

Chiwenga’s nom de guerre was Dominic Chinenge. He rose through the ranks to become a provincial commander for Masvingo/Gaza Province. He was later promoted to the High Command in 1978 as Josiah Tungamirai’s deputy.

In 1981 Chiwenga joined the newly-formed Zimbabwe National Army as an officer. In a failed suicide attempt, he shot himself after failing a promotions exam, but Mugabe promoted him anyway.

In 1994 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and made commander of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA). Upon the retirement of General Vitalis Zvinavashe in 2004, he was promoted to the rank of General and Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.

He is the chairman of the controversial Joint Operations Command and sits in the National Security Council, a security thinktank that also includes the Prime Minister and the President. He and his estranged wife, Jocelyn, are under Western targeted measures, banning them from travel to the EU and the United States.