Zanu-PF is prepared to remove from its ranks any officials with links to expelled ex-Vice President Dr Joice Mujuru to ensure it forges ahead with singularity of mind and spirit.
Dr Mujuru was expelled from the party last Thursday for leading a cabal that attempted to unseat President Mugabe at both party and State level, and exploring the possibility of assassinating him if other strategies failed.
It was also established that she involved herself in corruption, factionalism and behaviour inconsistent with her post as Zanu-PF VP and Second Secretary, and abused party structures to create a divisive centre of power to rival President Mugabe.
In addition, she denigrated the leadership of President Mugabe via statements issued to and published in the private media.
Sources revealed that the Politburo — which met last Thursday — resolved to come down hard on party members who associate with Dr Mujuru.
The sources said it was clear Dr Mujuru had been pushing the agenda through her cabal, which comprises former secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa, sacked party spokesman Rugare Gumbo, ex-war veterans leader Jabulani Sibanada, former Zanu-PF Mashonaland West chair Temba Mliswa, and deposed Zanu-PF Mashonaland East chair Ray Kaukonde, among others.
A source said: “The Politburo said it is ready to take hard decisions and to settle any remaining matters from Dr Mujuru’s sympathisers comprehensively. The party is prepared to expel even more MPs who are associated with her; we are even prepared to have more by-elections.”
Another source said associating with Dr Mujuru by Zanu-PF officials would not be looked upon kindly seeing as she had been expelled from the party after being found guilty of very serious charges.
“How can one claim loyalty to President Mugabe while associating with people who would want to unseat him?” he asked.
And Nathaniel Manheru, an influential columnist in our sister paper The Herald, on Saturday said, “Today she is out and no one in the party can hob nob with her without declaring counter-loyalties, without inviting disciplinary action.
“ . . . there is a readiness to take hard decisions, to settle the whole matter comprehensively, even if it means another mini-general election . . .
“So let no sitting MP think that there is a fear to expel, a fear to go back to the people (in an election).”
Last week, Sibanda and Mliswa openly professed their allegiance to MDC-T with the latter revealing that the cabal wants to partner the opposition in a “grand coalition” that would back Morgan Tsvangirai in 2018.
Mliswa said some Zanu-PF officials were hibernating in the party when they actually supported Dr Mujuru, and disclosed plans to inundate the courts with spurious legal challenges to “test the Zanu-PF system”.
One such futile challenge was his and his uncle Didymus Mutasa’s contest against their expulsion from Parliament, which the Constitutional Court overruled last week.
Gumbo — the cabal’s de facto spokesman — sprang to Dr Mujuru’s defence yesterday, but declined to comment on the group’s links to MDC-T.