Zimbabwe’s Defense Minister and Zanu PF Secretary for War Veterans, Sydney Sekeramayi, considered by many as an outsider in the race to succeed President Robert Mugabe has been named as the likely person to take over from the 93-year-old by a top government official.

Speaking during a SAPES Trust Policy Dialogue, Minister of Higher Education, Professor Jonathan Moyo said, “Sydney Sekeramayi is ideal successor to Mugabe.”

This statement is a smack in the face of the powerful Justice Minister and Vice President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has been viewed as the possible successor to Mugabe.

On Mnangagwa presidency, Jonathan Moyo unleashed a blistering attack on Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, saying he is a junior to Sekeramai and does not have a chance to succeed Mugabe.

Moyo singled out Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko and Sekeramayi, praising the later as someone to look up to in the event that Mugabe disappears from the scene.

Mnangagwa who recently received a Presidential welcome in his birth province of Masvingo is currently locked in a bitter succession war with Zimbabwe First Lady Doctor Amai Grace Mugabe who leads a rival G40 faction.

Early this year, Grace told a political rally that Mnangagwa and his Lacoste faction were wasting their time as he is just unelectable due to his past conduct.