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Leonard Ncube Senior Reporter
JOSTLING for the vacant Vice Presidency post is a waste of time as President Mugabe will have the final say on the matter, Zanu-PF spokesman, Cde Rugare Gumbo, said yesterday. The ruling party will hold its elective national congress in December where the VP post, left vacant following the death of the late Vice President Landa John Nkomo in January last year, will be filled.

There has been a raging debate in the past weeks as to who was likely to land the top post with a number of ex-Zipra lieutenants believed to be eyeing it.

In an interview in Victoria Falls, Cde Gumbo said while it was the norm that ex-Zapu members filled the VP post, it would be President Mugabe’s prerogative to make the last decision.

“We are going into an elective congress where new leadership will be elected. The party position is that we don’t have a VP and obviously there is a need to fill that position.

“How it will be done we don’t know but traditionally the former Zapu leadership will take the post,” he said.
He added: “Historically the national chairman post has been filled on consensus with the understanding that a candidate comes from Zapu but we don’t know what will happen. The decision will be done by President Mugabe, of course with some consultation.”

Some of the hopefuls that are reportedly interested in the VP post include former Zimbabwe Ambassador to South Africa, Cde Phelekezela Mphoko and Ex-Zipra commander Retired Brigadier General Ambrose Mutinhiri.

Zanu-PF national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, who is also the Senior Minister of State in the President’s Office, has declined to be drawn to comment on the issue although some have tipped him to land the post judging by his top position in the party hierarchy.

Politburo member Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube at the weekend said ex-Zipra cadres should stop jostling for the vacant post as it was clear from the party’s hierarchy who would land it.

Dr Obert Mpofu, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, himself a Politburo member, is on record as saying he hoped Cde Khaya Moyo would take up the position, adding that the Matabeleland region was against factionalism.

Meanwhile, Cde Gumbo said preparations for the congress to be held in Harare were ongoing although a venue and dates were yet to be decided.
“We have worked on the guidelines for various conferences. The Youth League Conference will be held between August 7 and 10 followed by the Women’s Assembly between August 20 and 22 and once we finish these, we go into the congress on dates to be announced but in Harare,” he said.
Cde Gumbo said the conferences would be held at the City Sports Centre while the venue for the congress, slated for the first two weeks of December, was not yet decided.

He said mobilisation of funds for the congress had started although they had not agreed on a budget as the party’s finance department was still working on it.