Zimbabwe’s ruling party warns of impeachment plot amid election rumours

0Shares

Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, who is also a senior member of the ruling Zanu PF party, has hinted at a possible impeachment attempt against President Emmerson Mnangagwa after the general elections scheduled for August this year.

Ziyambi’s remarks come amid speculation that a faction within Zanu PF, unhappy with Mnangagwa’s bid for a second term in office, is planning to sabotage his re-election campaign or join forces with the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) led by Nelson Chamisa to oust him from power.

The faction is said to be loyal to Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who was instrumental in the 2017 coup that toppled former president Robert Mugabe and paved the way for Mnangagwa’s ascension.

According to some analysts, Chiwenga and Mnangagwa had a pre-coup agreement that the latter would only serve one term and then hand over power to the former, but Mnangagwa reneged on the deal.

Chiwenga has denied any rift with Mnangagwa, saying they are “bound together” and dismissing the rumours as “social media” nonsense.

However, Ziyambi seemed to confirm the existence of a plot against Mnangagwa when he addressed a Zanu PF meeting at Banket Sports Club on Sunday.

He warned prospective ruling party legislators not to join any impeachment bid against Mnangagwa, saying they would be recalled from parliament by the party.

“There is no one who can remove the president without Zanu PF coughing,” he said. “If you go to Parliament and think you will join others and try to do what they call impeachment, we will simply write a recall letter and force a by-election.”

This is not the first time that impeachment has been mentioned as a threat to Mnangagwa’s presidency.

In 2018, ahead of the elections that gave him his first full term in office, Mnangagwa said he had intelligence that some of those who had won the Zanu PF primary elections had “two minds” and were planning to move a motion of impeachment against him.

He said such a move would fail because it would require constitutional grounds and the party’s approval.

Meanwhile, Mnangagwa’s popularity has also been eroded by allegations of rampant corruption involving his allies and family members, as exposed by a recent documentary series by Al Jazeera titled Gold Mafia.