Mr Mugabe to miss Zanu PF special congress

FORMER Zanu PF president, Robert Mugabe will miss the ruling party’s congress for the first time since the party’s founding in 1963.

Zanu PF will hold its extraordinary congress tomorrow to rubberstamp decisions of a central committee meeting that sat on November 19 at which Mugabe was deposed, albeit with the help of the military.

In a landmark moment for Zanu PF, new party leader Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took power amid chaotic but peaceful scenes that engulfed the country following the November 14 military intervention, will preside over the ruling party’s extraordinary congress.

Mnangagwa for decades served as Mugabe’s trusted lieutenant before he was elevated to the position of Vice-President only to be axed in early November as the power struggle to succeed Mugabe turned vicious.

Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association spokesperson and Zanu PF Harare provincial commissar, Douglas Mahiya said Mugabe was no longer a member of the ruling party.

“He had lost the plot. He had lost the way and was walking out of step with our ideals. Mugabe’s position as both a member of the party and leader had become untenable, hence, we did not expect that the leadership would invite him, let alone allow him to attend,” he said.

Mugabe was initially elected Zanu secretary-general when the party was formed in 1963 following the split in the then Zapu before he took over as leader in 1977.

Reports indicated Mugabe flew out of the country late on Monday to his favourite Far East holiday destination.

BY RICHARD CHIDZA