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Harare: The architect of the bloodiest period of President Robert Mugabe's rule emerged as his most likely successor when reports suggested that Zimbabwe will have a new prime minister after the election.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who as security minister oversaw the massacre of at least 8,000 people in Matabeleland in the 1980s, is being lined up to succeed Mugabe. Mnangagwa, now rural housing minister, also chairs the Joint Operations Command, the committee of generals and security chiefs believed to be in daily charge of Zimbabwe.
After Mugabe claims his election victory, the constitution may be amended to create a new post of prime minister. Mnangagwa, 61, would fill the vacancy. He would then be positioned to succeed Mugabe as president at the ruling Zanu-PF party's annual congress next year.
The two men have known each other for more than 40 years. Mnangagwa was head of internal security for the Zanla guerrilla army during the war against white rule of the 1970s. In this job, his prime task was to hunt down dissidents and dispose of them.
The succession plan was reported on Friday in the Financial Gazette, a Harare weekly in which Gideon Gono, the Reserve Bank governor and close ally of Mugabe, has a major shareholding. Mnangagwa's ambitions are no secret, but the timing of the article on election day demonstrates factional divisions within Zanu-PF and a clear exposition of what one group would like to happen.
Sydney Masamvu, a Zimbabwe specialist with the International Crisis Group think tank, said the report was credible, adding: "Emmerson can't win an election. He can only win the presidency by inheritance." But he will face opposition. General Solomon Mujuru, a former army commander and his wife, Joyce, currently a vice-president, would try to block the move.
"The military wants Mugabe to stay a maximum of six months and leave," added Masamvu. "They really feel he has to hand over power in six months. Mugabe wants to stay on until December 2009, when Zanu-PF has its congress, but meanwhile negotiate. He wants a transitional government that runs until 2009."
Masamvu said Mugabe was "held hostage by a cabal of military chiefs around him who are running the show" and were motivated only by self-interest.
- The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2008
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