From the News: Mugabe names successors

From The Zimbabwe Independent, 19 October

Mugabe names successors

Dumisani Muleya

President Robert Mugabe has reportedly named four top Zanu PF officials as his possible successors in a recent conversation with South African President Thabo Mbeki. Reports this week indicate that Mugabe two weeks ago spoke to Mbeki about the ongoing talks between the ruling Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to resolve the country’s worsening situation and in the process delved into his leadership succession. The reports say Mugabe noted that there were four serious candidates to succeed him, senior Zanu PF politburo members Emmerson Mnangagwa, John Nkomo, Sydney Sekeramayi and Simba Makoni. The notable omissions from Mugabe’s list are Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, both widely touted as potential successors. Mujuru, whom Mugabe during the Zanu PF congress in 2004 publicly anointed as the next president, has fallen out with her boss over internal squabbles. (...)