Zimbabwe’s ruling party expels its vice president

JOICE MUJURU, Zimbabwe’s former vice president, was expelled by the ruling Zanu-PF party at its politburo meeting in Harare on Thursday.

Mujuru, 59, had been a lifelong member of Zanu-PF. She went to war as a teenager to fight white minority rule and her husband, Solomon Mujuru, who died in a mysterious fire three years ago, was President Robert Mugabe’s commander during the civil war.

According to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), the Zanu-PF politburo accused Mujuru of fanning “factionalism” in the party and said she “abused her office to create competing centres of power”.

She was also accused of “collaborating and colluding with the enemy”. Zanu-PF has regularly described the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party and Western powers as “the enemy”.

Mujuru was the youngest cabinet minister after Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 and served in Mugabe’s government continuously since then, becoming vice-president in 2004.

She was sacked from that post at the Zanu-PF congress last December after first lady Grace Mugabe launched a campaign against her. Grace Mugabe, 49, attended Thursday’s politburo meeting where Mujuru was expelled, according to the ZBC. Two other Zanu-PF members who supported Mujuru, Didymus Mutasa, 79, and party spokesman Rugare Gumbo, 75 were also expelled from Zanu-PF after the congress.

They lost their case at the constitutional court this week in which they claimed they had been illegally expelled from the party.

Mujuru was replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa as senior Zanu-PF vice president at the congress. Mugabe is due to arrive in South Africa on Tuesday for a state visit. – Independent Foreign Service

DISMISSED: Joice Mujuru has been expelled by Zanu-PF.