Zanu PF’s Politburo, the party top decision-making body outside Congress, has accepted the resignation of two top Women’s League members Eunice Sandi Moyo and Sarah Mahoka for allegedly misappropriating thousands of dollars sourced from businesspeople and a local prophet.
According to the state-controlled Herald newspaper and various Zimbabwean media outlets, the Politburo took the decision on Wednesday in a marathon meeting on this and other issues.
Party spokesperson, Simon Khaya Moyo, told journalists in Harare while the meeting was still in progress that Sandi Moyo and Mahoka, who were also accused of undermining First Lady Grace Mugabe, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and presidential spokesperson, George Charamba, decided to resign before the party organ made the deliberations.
Moyo said they resigned because they had a case to answer. The two were not available for comment.
Sandi Moyo was the deputy secretary of the Women’s League and Mahoka was the powerful party organ’s finance secretary.
The two allegedly sourced $20,000 from Higher Education Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo and $100,000 from a local prophet meant for the Women’s League, which they allegedly converted it to their own use. They sourced other funds from various stakeholders and also allegedly failed to surrender to the party.
Critics say some of these allegations leveled against the two are part of some factional fights within the ruling Zanu PF party over the succession of 93 year-old President Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa, who is said to be angling himself to succeed Mr. Mugabe, allegedly leads a group calling itself Team Lacoste. The other faction is said to be led by Mrs. Grace Mugabe and comprises young turks calling themselves Generation 40 or G40.
One of the G40 leaders, Saviour Kasukuwere, is facing protests in his home turf with allegations that he is running parallel party structures in Mashonaland Central province. He is accused of attempting to topple President Mugabe, who has strongly defended Kasukuwere saying party members should follow proper procedures when dealing with Zanu PF matters.
Mr. Mugabe recently got a massage chair from his Cabinet, a move that has been widely seen by some Zimbabweans as an attempt to keep him in office even if he is no longer in a position to walk properly due to his advanced age.
His wife once said the president will rule from a wheel chair or his grave as millions of Zimbabweans like him as they can even vote for him if his name is placed on the ballot when he dies.