ZIMBABWE’S PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe lashed out at factionalism in his Zanu-PF party at this weekend’s five-yearly congress and warned supporters to be ready for elections in the near future as the transitional government would not be long-lived.
The 85-year-old was unanimously re-elected as Zanu-PF’s leader on Saturday, and in an attempt to heal the divisions behind the battle to succeed him, he urged delegates at the Harare congress to unite ahead of the coming poll.
“The inclusive government has a short life of 24 months,” he told an estimated 10,500 party faithful, “so we must be ready for the elections and we must not be defeated like we were last year. We must win resoundingly and regain the constituents we lost.”
While Mr Mugabe’s re-election was uncontested, party insiders say his appointment and that of the two party vice-presidents only came after months of infighting between the party’s Mujuru faction and those who want defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa to replace Mr Mugabe.
Joyce Mujuru, wife of retired army general Solomon, moved up a slot to become the party’s senior vice-president, while John Nkomo, a compromise candidate, became the second vice-president. Zimbabwe’s former ambassador to South Africa Simon Khaya Moyo was elected as party chairman, meaning Mr Mnangagwa and his supporters were left unrepresented at the top table.
On Friday evening during his opening speech to the congress Mr Mugabe warned that infighting was “eating” Zanu-PF, and the factionalism at the heart of the succession battle had cost them last year’s election.
Zanu-PF lost the parliamentary election in March 2008 to the then opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.
“Instead of organising against the opposition, we are sweating for support, not for the party, but for oneself. We should be able to admit that the election produced a result that left a huge dent on the party. We are responsible for the poor performance in the election last year,” he was quoted as saying in Saturday’s state-run Herald newspaper.
Observers say Zanu-PF’s election loss has severely weakened the party and that Mr Mugabe’s aura of all powerful has suffered as a result. Delegates attending the congress reportedly spoke openly about the succession battle for the first time, with many people saying the veteran leader, who has led the party for 35 years, should not have been re-elected for another term.
"Some of us had candidates imposed on us in the provinces," one delegate told South Africa's Sunday Tribunenewspaper.
“I come from Harare province and we don’t want Joyce [Mujuru], many of us think she is corrupt and we want [defence minister] Mnangagwa, but he is not going to succeed until Mugabe goes.”
Now that the party’s leadership has been decided for the foreseeable future it is hoped Zanu-PF will start to meet their obligations under the powersharing deal with the MDC, which has been in place since last February.
The transitional government broke down for a month recently when the MDC accused Mr Mugabe and his supporters of not sticking to their end of the arrangement.