Zanu PF is mulling a policy on social media to curb the influence of its exiled members in the looming battle over President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s succession, it has emerged.
The plan was disclosed by Zanu PF commissar Munyaradzi Machacha while addressing party officials at a provincial co-ordinating committee (PCC) meeting held in Bindura on Friday.
Machacha said the party was concerned by how social media has seen considerable inflammatory debate, seemingly originating from South Africa and fuelled by individuals aligned with the G40 faction.
He said the involvement of former Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere and external forces attempting to influence events in the country through proxies was a matter of serious concern, inside sources who attended the meeting disclosed.
Kasukuwere was part of the leaders of the G40 faction.
Together with other former ministers Walter Mzembi, Jonathan Moyo, Godfrey Gandiwa, among others, fled the country after their faction was vanquished through a coup in November 2017.
Kasukuwere is resident in South Africa.
Last year, he was barred by the court in his bid to contest against Mnangagwa and other presidential candidates in the August 2023 elections.
Since then, he has been blasting Mnangagwa on social media, particularly recently opposing the Zanu PF leader's loyalists' plans to amend the constitution and extend his term limit to 2030.
Mnangagwa’s term ends in 2028, but his loyalists have been pushing for an extension of his term, despite resistance from both within and outside the party.
Machacha told the ruling party officials that for the party to achieve unity, it would introduce the policy that is set to control party members from saying contradictory party positions on certain matters.
This is not the first time Machacha has hinted at such a development.
The party has been toying with the idea since the late former President Robert Mugabe was still in charge.
Last year, senior party official Patrick Chinamasa told a Harare PPC meeting that the party was mulling crafting a social media policy to “insulate party leadership”.
Several party officials have been suspended in Masvingo province for allegedly insulting party leadership in WhatsApp groups, although their suspension is linked to their opposition to the ED2030 project, supporting Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga to take over in 2028.