The backlash against Zanu PF officials seen as over-idolizing Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is the strongest sign yet that Mr. Mnangagwa’s loyalists may be warring, analysts said Monday.
Though he denies it, the acting president is widely believed to lead a faction that waged a vicious war against former Vice President Joice Mujuru and her allies, leading to their removal from office ahead of the party’s Congress and after the event.
The latest official to take flak from state media and some sections in Zanu PF is Mashonaland West Provincial Minister Faber Chidarikire after he introduced Mr. Mnangagwa’s wife, Auxilia, at a weekend party as the acting first lady.
The state-controlled Herald newspaper lashed at Chidarikire saying he had “raised the bootlicking bar to intolerable levels.”
Two weeks ago the paper laid into another Zanu PF official, Josiah Hungwe, after he allegedly likened Mnangagwa to Jesus Christ.
Some feel this may mean the Mnangagwa group is crumbling, speculating he may be at odds with one of his allies, Jonathan Moyo, the man some credited with leading the media blitz that saw the fall of Mujuru.
Political analyst Chamunorwa Madiridze opined that the Mnangagwa faction is sure imploding.
But a Zanu PF official Nicholas Mnangagwa says the infighting is imaginary.