BY EVERSON MUSHAVA
A ZANU PF member and former minister yesterday revealed that the ruling party was its weakest, run mafia style and President Emmerson Mnangagwa would out rightly lose to MDC leader Nelson Chamisa if elections were to be held today.
an audio that went viral yesterday, former deputy Finance minister Terrence Mukupe said the Zanu PF did not have a leader to replace Mnangagwa because members were not appointed to party leadership positions on meritocracy.
Mukupe, who admitted to the audio yesterday, unwittingly exposed his fears of Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga taking over with the backing of the military.
“I strongly feel our party is at weakest now,” Mukupe said.
“I can tell you, right now, if we are to go for elections, with the way the situation is in the country, Chamisa and ED; ED will be beaten out rightly, because the economy is not pumping.”
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He added: “There is nothing we have done in the two to three years we have been in power to show to the ordinary person that this is what Zanu PF has done in the new dispensation. There is nothing tangible.”
Chamisa narrowly lost to Mnangagwa in the 2018 controversial elections, which the MDC leader has up to today refused to accept. Mnangagwa’s narrow victory was despite his MPs securing a two thirds majority.
Mukupe said Zanu PF’s woes were compounded by the fact that the President was imposed without proper internal elections, and appoints his cronies without the people’s blessing.
He said the party was at its weakest and it will be difficult for Mnangagwa to widen the gap of 300 000 voters he beat Chamisa with, considering the most of elderly people who support Zanu PF were dying.
“Succession is not clear, if Mnangagwa accidentally dies, who will take over. What if the person to take over uses military support, to become the president of the party and by default became the president of the country? We will have an army that has absolute power and the next thing, there will be a campaign to have people purged, and that further weakens the party,” Mukupe said.
Chiwenga, with strong military background, is believed to be angling to take over from Mnangagwa in the Zanu PF factional succession wars.
Mukupe said there was no suitable successor to Mnangagwa from the politburo, adding there was need for people to be elected on meritocracy, not the current system where the party is “run in a mafia style”.
“There is no one in the politburo who can win an election; Oppah Muchinguri was beaten in the party’s, do you think Obert Mpofu can be voted by anyone, all the guys like Patrick Chinamasa, who vote for him. But these are the people in the leadership of the party because they are there with the His Excellency’s protection. But we could have a much more vibrant party if we select people on meritocracy.”
He accused Zanu PF of flouting its own constitution by firing people party members by a politburo decree, questioning how the ruling party can uphold constitutionalism at national level when they fail at party level.