
This came amid fears that Mnangagwa could recycle old ministers
in an effort to appease them after they helped elevate him following former
President Robert Mugabe’s ouster last November.
A top party insider yesterday said there was massive
campaign to force the party’s “career ministers” to excuse themselves from the
race and allow Mnangagwa to freely choose new brooms for his new government.
“We are having this conversation in the party. For
instance, look at most of them, they are old now, but it would be difficult for
the President to dump them without causing some discord. If they volunteer to
say, ‘Please President, don’t consider me for selection’, it makes it easier,”
the source said.
Zanu PF’s United Kingdom branch chairperson Nick Mangwana,
who is currently in the country, confirmed the fierce fights, without naming
any targeted party bigwigs.
“I would expect some of my leadership to make life easy for
my President by making themselves ‘unavailable’ for selection to Cabinet posts.
There is a lot to cherish in retirement. If one didn’t put a stash aside all
these years, then in all likelihood, it ain’t (sic) gonna happen now,” he said.
Mangwana said he believed that only technocrats and Young
Turks had the capacity to fulfil Mnangagwa’s new governance thrust.
Contacted for comment, Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya
Moyo said selection of Cabinet ministers was Mnangagwa’s prerogative, adding
none of the top party officials could turn down an appointment. “I have not
heard of that conversation within the party, but what I know is that it’s the
prerogative of the President to appoint the Cabinet, so we can’t speak on
issues of speculation on things that have not yet happened,” he said.
Khaya Moyo said he would not turn down a Cabinet post
offer.
“I have not been offered a ministerial position and I will
not speculate. I am not that kind of person who discounts themselves in
advance,” he said.
Khaya Moyo has been a survivor in the Zanu PF political
matrix, after surviving the purge against then Vice-President Joice Mujuru and
later survived another onslaught targeting former President Robert Mugabe’s
allies although he had read out a statement announcing then Vice-President
Mnangagwa’s expulsion at the height of Zanu PF internal fights last year.
He ironically, as both party and government spokesperson,
had the invidious task of announcing the expulsion of Mujuru, Mnangagwa and
Mugabe, but miraculously survived the purges. Newsday
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