263preez team targets army for support

The team, exposed by The Zimbabwean last week, is gunning to have Information Minister Jonathan Moyo as Zimbabwe’s next president – in 2018 if not earlier. Mugabe and some politburo members are reportedly alarmed at the latest developments that have seen the team opposing Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and gaining support from within the armed forces, said the source.

“They are saying Mnangagwa is merely a former Mugabe bodyguard and secretary and cannot be entrusted with presidential power,” said the source.

Mnangagwa was Mugabe’s trusted personal aid during the war of liberation that culminated in independence in 1980. For years Mugabe has played him and deputy president Joice Mujuru off against each other as both vie for the presidential crown.

Mnangagwa heads the Joint Operations Command and is a chief strategist, having twice worked as Mugabe’s Chief Election Agent in 2008 and 2013. The source said there were plans afoot to have JOC dissolved to strip Mnangagwa of power and to push for Defence Minister Sekeramayi Sydney to take over.

As part of this plot, Douglas Nyikayaramba, an army general who has reportedly been promised the post of military supremo, has allegedly been targeted, together with a senior officer identified only as Sango, who has been promised the post of Zimbabwe National Army commander.

Meanwhile, the fight to get rid of major rivals such as party Secretary for Administration, Didymus Mutasa, Nicholas Goche, a veteran member and cabinet minister and former Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono, has intensified. The three are aligned to Mujuru and are also believed to hold great personal influence with Mugabe and his wife Grace.

Former Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, is reportedly being targeted as well and his alleged corrupt activities while in charge of mining will soon be exposed as party of the strategy to discredit him, said the source.