FORMER president Robert Mugabe’s project to appoint former
defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi as his successor failed due to an array of
reasons: his lack of gravitas, weak support from the deposed veteran leader as
well as from the Zanu PF commissariat and critical party structures.
Insiders said this week Sekeramayi proved to be a reluctant
and weak candidate, as he appeared timid to provide leadership to the G40
faction which had coalesced around Mugabe and his wife Grace at the zenith of
the Zanu PF succession battle.
After the May 2017 “Mexico Declaration”, which heightened
Mugabe’s succession war within the splintered Zanu PF, the G40 faction hastily
formed a special committee led by the then party’s political commissar Saviour
Kasukuwere to introduce Sekeramayi across the country’s 10 provinces as the
veteran leader’s preferred heir apparent.
While on a visit to Mexico to attend the United Nations
World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, Mugabe finally decided to take a
decisive step to resolve the Zanu PF succession squabbles by assigning
Kasukuwere to lead the process to promote Sekeramayi as his successor ahead of
his long-time ally and the then co-vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Insiders say Mugabe had given Kasukuwere the task because
he was the national commissar, energetic but also to contain his own raw power
ambitions. At the time, Kasukuwere was fighting for political survival after
being bruised by internal infighting and demonstrations against him, which
Grace initially supported to checkmate him.
Despite this development, insiders say Sekeramayi did not
seize the initiative to assertively thrust himself in the public domain and at
the forefront of Zanu PF’s politics as Mugabe’s successor, except for two or
three rallies where he languidly appeared to do so, was largely invisible and
ineffective.
“Even after the Mexico Declaration, Sekeramayi could not
seize the moment and act like a prince who had just been anointed by a frail
king to take over leadership. He appeared too timid and lacked charisma to
capture the spirit and imagination of the public,” an informed source said. “He
failed to match his main rival’s ambition and drive.”
Mugabe also failed to provide clear and direct public
support for Sekeramayi. Even when he was pressured by his wife Grace, Mugabe
still hesitated to publicly name his preferred successor.
Insiders say Mugabe’s reluctance to show his hand too early
stemmed from the fact that the party’s congress, which was due to be held in
December, appeared too distant, while prematurely doing so could have
intensified military brinkmanship and intervention.
During that time, Kasukuwere, who had survived a tide of
protest as the party’s political commissar mobilised by Mnangagwa’s backers,
was also weak and vulnerable, and thus could not effectively champion
Sekeramayi’s bid for the presidency.
Kasukuwere, sources say, also viewed himself as
representing the new crop of young leaders who could provide future leadership
within Zanu PF, hence his reluctance to back Sekeramayi.
Sources said Grace — who had been kept in the dark about
details of the Mexico Declaration — also did not push single-mindedly as she
appeared later to harbour her own lofty ambitions to succeed her frail husband.
However, after details of the Mexico Declaration were
disclosed to her by Kasukuwere and Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao, Grace
wavered between Sekeramayi and her own burning ambition which she had partly
advanced through nationwide youth rallies which were ostensibly meant to drum
up support for Mugabe ahead of Zanu PF’s congress.
Compared to his main rival, Mnangagwa, Sekeramayi was
viewed as weak and uninspiring by his backers and the G40 faction.
Insiders say after details of the Mexico Declaration were
leaked to the Mnangagwa faction, reportedly by Mnangagwa’s allies then
Environment minister Oppah Muchinguri and Foreign Affairs minister Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi, the military escalated manoeuvres that culminated in a full-scale
coup leading to Mugabe’s ouster last November.
After the coup, the militarily crushed G40 faction devised
a plan to resist Mugabe’s ouster by forming the National Patriotic Front (NPF)
which became led by former minister, legislator and Zipra liberation war
commander Ambrose Mutinhiri.
The NPF is still being fronted by Mutinhiri, with the
behind-the-scenes support of the former president and his wife.
The party’s founders and 39-member interim national
executive committee met last week in Harare, amid chaos to prepare for its
launch this month.
Insiders said the situation in NPF is dynamic and moving
fast as the party and its leaders look for a strategy to be a material factor
in the upcoming general elections, either as a party or through a coalition
with the existing opposition forces which are rapidly re-aligning and
repositioning themselves as the polls drawer closer. Zimbabwe Independent
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