PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe flies into a fierce political storm in Gweru on
Friday, where he is scheduled to address a Zanu PF youth interface
campaign rally, with Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s loyalists
threatening to use the occasion to hit back at their rivals for
allegedly food poisoning the “Midlands godfather” in an assassination
attempt, two weeks ago.
Midlands province is home to Mnangagwa and one of his
strongholds in the fluid Zanu PF succession politics.
His supporters yesterday vowed to fight back after being
politically dressed down at the last six successive campaign rallies in other
provinces since May this year.
“We don’t care what has been happening in other provinces.
What I can tell you is that in Midlands, you will not see a repeat of that
nonsense. It’s not time to divide the people and party supporters cannot travel
from various parts of the province to listen to divisive elements. That will
not happen,” a senior official, who declined to be named, said.
“We have order in this province and we are not there to
protect individuals. I don’t know of the faction you are referring to (Team
Lacoste), but the truth of the matter is that we don’t want to hear about those
faction talks here.”
Mnangagwa is still smarting from a suspected food poisoning
scare following an interface rally held in Gwanda two weeks ago.
But Mugabe on Saturday dismissed Mnangagwa’s poisoning and
witchcraft claims, urging party members to regularly undergo medical
examination for underlying ailments.
Mnangagwa was airlifted to South Africa following a severe
bout of abdominal discomfort, vomiting and diarrhoea, as his allies strongly
suspected that he had been poisoned in the succession fights.
Information minister Christopher Mushohwe last week ruled
out the “poisoning” narrative, saying Mnangagwa’s stomach could have been upset
by “stale food”.
“What the doctors think happened is that perhaps he ate
some stale food, which then means it is really not poison in the sense that the
people are trying to allege,” Mushohwe last week.
He refused to explain why Mnangagwa would be flown to South
Africa for treatment due to contamination through eating stale food.
Highly-placed sources close to Mnangagwa last week told
NewsDay that South African doctors discovered that the VP consumed
non-radioactive poison, which could require a systems flush-out over the next
two months.
Zanu PF has been divided into two distinct factions — Team
Lacoste, reportedly sympathetic to Mnangagwa, and First Lady Grace Mugabe’s
G40, whose other key players are Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo and
party commissar Saviour Kasukuwere.
At other interface rallies, Team Lacoste has been on the
receiving end, with Grace leading the onslaught against perceived Mnangagwa
allies.
However, Midlands provincial youth chairman Prosper
Machando chose to be diplomatic yesterday, saying they would not give in to
factional forces at the rally.
“We support President Robert Mugabe and we don’t belong to
any faction. There won’t be anything called factionalism at the rally.
Factionalism is only for those leaders in Harare and why would people expect it
here? There would be nothing like that unless if you are telling me that
President Mugabe himself is a faction,” Machando said.
He said preparations were at an advanced stage for the
Friday rally to be held in Gweru.
“This is not about competition, but we are expecting 120
000 people to attend. They are all coming from this province. It’s possible to
have such a number,” Machando said. Newsday
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