ZANU PF Youth League Criticises Mutsvangwa Over Succession Remarks
ZANU PF Youth League Political Commissar Taurai Kandishaya has criticised the party’s spokesperson, Christopher Mutsvangwa for saying Vice President Constantino Chiwenga was not ordained successor to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, reported ZimLive.
Mutsvangwa was quoted by a weekly publication over the weekend saying there was no pact or agreement between Mnangagwa and Chiwenga for the latter’s ascension to the presidency.
Mutsvangwa also said Mnangagwa does not have the power to unilaterally endorse a preferred candidate to succeed him when his current term expires in 2028. He said:
ZANU PF is not a church where people can be anointed, and the president is not the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury who anoints priests
If you think you’re worth it, go and sell yourself to the people. If you clamour for anointment by the president, it means you have failed the litmus test of being a ZANU PF leader.
ZANU PF is not a secret society and there is no secret agreement on succession. People are going to vote for their leaders from the grassroots level.
In an interview with ZBC News on Tuesday, Kandishaya criticized Mutsvangwa for publicly discussing the issue of presidential succession within the ruling party. Said Kandishaya:
We don’t discuss succession with the media in ZANU PF; there are laid down procedures. In fact, in ZANU PF, almost everything that we do is procedural; we have the constitution of the party, we have a code of conduct and we have the ideology of ZANU PF.
So everything that is done in ZANU PF must be found within the four corners of the ideology; the ideology is then supported by the constitution of the party.
So, this is not an issue where one can just be seen or heard out there discussing about it. That’s unprocedural.
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