“I have become the fly in the web of lies whose final objective is the destruction of ZANU-PF and what it stands for and ultimately the present government.
“A vociferous attempt has been made to portray me as ‘a traitor’, ‘murderer’ and ‘sellout’, yet no iota of evidence has been produced to give credence to the allegations.”
That was ex-Zimbabwean Vice-President Joice Mujuru defending her integrity in a statement on Tuesday shortly after her long-time, pre-independence ally and boss, President Robert Mugabe, sacked her and eight of her supporters who are cabinet ministers.
President Mugabe fired his deputy Mujuru, who for years had been touted as his successor, barely a week after she lost her post in the ruling party’s central committee, for allegedly leading a “treacherous cabal” to try to unseat Mugabe through assassination.
“A well-orchestrated smear campaign and gross abuse of state apparatus”, she said, had been directed at her leading to the loss of her ruling party post.
Reports quote Mugabe as saying: “I have evidence that Mujuru met with US officials, and in this meeting they plotted a plan to try and remove me from office”.
Analysts say supporters of ZANU-PF are concerned that there could be a split [in the party]. They know that Mujuru has been a member of the party for many years – even before independence from British rule in 1980..
Said one analyst: “She does have a following – a lot of women supporters thought that she would perhaps be the first woman president of Zimbabwe one day, should Mugabe step down.”
Mujuru, who once looked likely to succeed Mugabe has been accused of plotting to assassinate the 90-year-old and removed from the ruling ZANU-PF party’s central committee.
ZANU-PF held an elective congress last week which endorsed Mugabe as president and his wife Grace as head of the women’s wing.
“The well-orchestrated smear campaign and gross abuse of state apparatus had reportedly been led by Mrs. Grace Mugabe, who now has taken over Mujuru’s party post as head of the Women’s Wing.