Former military intelligence officer Cde Never Maswerasei has made sensational claims that President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is now grooming Local Government Minister July Moyo to succeed him when his term of office ends.

Mnangagwa who was believed to be planning a constitutional amendment to allow him to run for a third term or an extension said he is not interested in doing so.

According to critics, this is probably due to pressure within his camp and government forcing him to dump his plan for a third term.

However, Cde Maswerasei says Mnangagwa is not done with his plan but has resorted to plan B.

“The missing information: After “beating the retreat”, Emmerson Mnangagwa and family have decided to resort to Option 2 on their strategy table.

“The option is to position July Moyo as successor while the grooming of Emmerson Junior, Sean & David continue. When July takes over,” he says.

Apparently, United Kingdom based Zimbabwean lawyer and political commentator Brighton Mutebuka says President Mnangagwa’s recent sentiments that he will not seek third term or extension should be taken with a pinch of salt.

He says Mnangagwa has been giving mixed signals not showing indications that he is ready to leave office.

Mutebuka writes:

There is a clear mismatch between this statement & events that have taken place on the ground.

We all saw the televised chants / sloganeering amongst others, which were made in broad daylight & presided over by some of his staunchest allies.

We saw the Tshabangu debacle & now there’s Wicknell’s shenanigans.

There’s also previous form in the repeated public denials prior to Bob’s eventual dramatic removal from power via an ED led coup, albeit with popular approval.

In light of this, it’s reasonable to remain sceptical & urge caution until solid evidence emerges displaying concrete steps being officially taken to either step down or arrange for a transition within the party & at state level.

Seasoned political observers/ analysts will remain unmoved by soaring rhetoric from a veteran politician who has had his own fair share of hyperbolic expressions over the years!

Whatever his actual political intentions are, the window for him to execute his strategy is narrowing on the political chessboard!

Sooner or later, he’ll have to come out of the woodwork!

Zwnews