By TZN Correspondent
The beleaguered one million men march scheduled for Wednesday hangs in the balance amid reports of a bomb plot as the succession wrangle reaches unprecedented levels in Zanu PF.
According to sources there are fears the march could turn into bloody explosions and confusions as some unhappy members of the armed forces could take advantage of this to get even with their abusive masters.
This comes on the backdrop of the Gushungo bombing saga where one person was convicted. Two Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) soldiers were in January arraigned at the Harare Magistrates’ Court on banditry and money-laundering charges.
Borman Ngwenya, a corporal at 1 Field Regiment based at Cranborne Barracks, and Solomon Makombe, a retired Intelligence Corps officer based at Artillery Brigade in Domboshava, on Monday appeared before provincial magistrate Vakayi Chikwekwe on charges of conspiring to bomb Mugabe’s milk processing plant using Molotov cocktails.
Military intelligence bosses later during the trial of the four men accused of attempting to bomb the First Family’s Gushungo Dairy plant by approaching the High Court sought a gag order against the media.
The facts are that one of the suspects accused of attempting to petrol-bomb the First Family’s Alpha Omega Dairy Farm yesterday maintained that it was a military- sanctioned operation, and he had been tasked by his superiors from the Zimbabwe National Army to monitor and trap the culprit.
Sources say this plot was hatched by VP Mnangagwa loyalists as a grand scheme in Zanu PF succession battle. After the conviction of these men, Mnangagwa would call for heightened security on Mugabe and his family. That would mean his team would closely monitor Grace Mugabe and her G40 handlers movements.
Mnangagwa reportedly belongs to the so-called Team Lacoste, which has the backing of most war veterans and the military, while Mphoko belongs to Generation 40 that allegedly has the backing of First Lady Grace Mugabe.
Mnangagwa was on May Day forced to address an almost empty Rufaro Stadium when Zimbabwean workers and vendors boycotted a government-organised Workers’ Day commemoration event, despite the order by Zanu PF to shut down all vending sites and small-scale businesses in Harare as it sought to commandeer people to the belated International Labour Day event.
Recently a group of veterans from the 1970s war who attempted to gather in the centre of Harare for a rally on were teargassed by riot police.
In March this year President Robert Mugabe, blasted service chiefs involved in a fierce succession war raging in the ruling party.
Confusion could be worsened by the fact that some of the people involved in the plot will be in police, army, prison air force and National Youth Service uniforms.
If indeed one million ZANU PF members turn up… the opposition which is planning to mobilise its forces in Harare and Chitungwiza bring in another million, the sheer numbers could be too much for country’s armed forced combined
“Opposition involvement in the plot can not be ruled out”, said a member of Mugabe’s dreaded CIO.
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