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of the House of Asse-mbly.
The position fell vacant after the Supreme Court nullified former Spea-ker Mr Lovemore Moyo’s election in 2008.
The Zanu-PF national chairman is likely to lock horns with his opposite number from MDC-T, Mr Lovemore Moyo in a battle of national chairpersons and Moyos.
Zanu-PF’s Politburo met yesterday and settled for Cde Khaya Moyo due to his vast experience in politics and dip-lomatic circles.
The party also filled vacancies left by Vice Presidents Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo in the House of Assembly and Senate, with Cde Oppah Muchinguri and Cde Rugare Gumbo becoming non-constituency MPs.
Cde Muchinguri is the Zanu-PF secretary for women’s affairs while Cde Gumbo is the party’s secretary for information and publicity.
Insiders said Cde Muchinguri and the party’s House of Assembly Chief Whip Cde Joram Gumbo had been considered for the Speaker’s post.
However, after much debate, the leadership settled on its most senior official who is not in Parliament, Cde Khaya Moyo.
The Politburo then held a caucus with Zanu-PF legislators to inform them of Cde Khaya Moyo’s candida-ture.
Addressing journalists after the meeting, Cde Rugare Gumbo said: “The Politburo meeting was to decide on the candidate for the Speaker of the House of Assembly. We have made a decision as a party that Cde Simon Khaya Moyo is going to be our candidate for the Speaker’s post.
“The vote was unanimous and there were no queries except to approve the candidate. The reason why we zeroed in on Cde Khaya Moyo is that he is a former MP and ambassador and an experienced politician. Now he has assumed the role as the party’s natio-nal chairman.
“He has a lot of skills and is a former diplomat and we believe that a person who should run the Parliament should be a diplomat who appreciates diverse views from all parties in Parlia- ment.”
Cde Gumbo said there had been jostling for the nomination.
“There were quite a number of people who have expressed interest in the position.

“We are not imposing him (Cde Khaya Moyo) to the people but this has been the case with Zanu-PF that such a higher post is occupied by a Politburo member.
“Some of our MPs are young and we need to mould them, they need guidance,” he said.
Although Cde Gumbo did not disclose names of those interested, sources said Cdes Joram Gumbo and Muchinguri were among top contenders.
Cde Rugare Gumbo said Zanu-PF would enga-ge legislators from the two MDC formations to support their candidate.
He added: “The party also decided to nominate people for vacant positions in the House of Assembly and Senate.
“In the House of Assembly the party nominated Cde Muchinguri to replace VP Mujuru and in Senate I was nominated to replace VP Nkomo.”
He said he was optimistic that elections for new Speaker would be held soon to operationalise Parliament.
Clerk of Parliament Mr Austin Zvoma on Tues-day announced the indefinite deferment of House of Assembly sittings pending finalisation of logistics and other legal requirements to elect a new Speaker.
Mr Zvoma said Mr Moyo would not sit in the House as he had lost his seat when he became the Speaker.
MDC-T has also withdrawn its case in which it wanted Mr Moyo declared Matobo North legislature. Professor Welshman Ncube’s MDC has said it will not take part in the election.
It is understood that despite this injunction from the party leader, both Zanu-PF and MDC-T are privately courting individual MDC MPs for their support.
MDC-T has 97 House of Assembly legislators to Zanu-PF’s 96.
This will make it vital for both parties to ensure they get backing from all or some of the eight MDC lawmakers regardless of what their party leadership says.