By Hendricks Chizhanje 

HARARE – War veterans at the weekend said the ruling ZANU PF party would only choose President Robert Mugabe’s successor after his death, raising the stakes in the tussle within the party over the Zimbabwean leader’s successor. 

Mugabe, who is under pressure to step down from rival factions within ZANU PF, has of late received backing from the ex-fighters who have been holding countrywide marches in support of his candidature in next year’s polls. 

Addressing a boisterous crowd of over 10 000 people in the Mashonaland Central provincial town of Bindura on Saturday, the leader of the war veterans Jabulani Sibanda said ZANU PF will only choose new leader after Mugabe’s death. 

“One cannot just wake up in the morning and (declare that one) wants to be the presidential candidate. Yes, you can be a president of a burial society and not of ZANU PF. 

“The ruling party’s constitution indicates that the President would remain President until he retires. To us retirement means death,” said Sibanda. 

Sibanda was expelled from ZANU PF in 2004 after he attended a clandestine meeting in Tsholotsho that Mugabe claimed was meant to oust him from power. 

The war veterans’ leader, who is tussling for control of the former fighters’ body with Andrew Ndlovu, says he was reinstated to the party by a faction within ZANU PF backing Mugabe’s candidature. 

The veterans have since last August held several marches across the country mobilising support for Mugabe who they say is the only one fit to govern the country despite a worsening economic crisis in the southern African country. 

Mugabe has already indicated that he will stand as his party’s candidate in next year’s presidential and parliamentary elections. 

There has been growing speculation that a faction within ZANU PF led by former army commander Solomon Mujuru could spring a surprise at the party’s December congress by nominating a challenger to Mugabe. 

The Mujuru faction is said to be mobilising behind the scenes to push former finance minister Simba Makoni or Vice-President Joice Mujuru to take a strike at Mugabe’s job. 

Earlier this month, Sibanda said the war veterans were planning a “million-man” march in Harare in support of Mugabe’s candidature adding that whoever did not back the veteran Zimbabwean leader was a traitor. 

Human rights groups and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, accuse the war veterans who wield immense influence within ZANU PF, of waging a campaign of terror against Mugabe’s critics. - ZimOnline