Purge rumours grow in Zimbabwe

Axed Zimbabwean Vice-President Joice Mujuru. File picture: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

Axed Zimbabwean Vice-President Joice Mujuru. File picture: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

Published Nov 21, 2014

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Harare - Insiders in the ruling Zanu-PF are predicting that several of Zimbabwe’s top security officials will be dismissed in the purge of the party before its elective congress early next month.

Those expected to be sacked are police commissioner, Augustine Chihuri, and security chief, Happyton Bonyongwe, who controls the Central Intelligence Organisation. Air force chief Perence Shiri and prisons commissioner-general, Paradzai Zimondi, also face the chop, according to the Zimbabwe Independent on Friday.

Army chief Constantine Chiwenga and other senior soldiers appear to have escaped the chop predicted by the Independent and other media which are all swept up with rumours of changes within Zanu-PF, driven by the entry of first lady, Grace Mugabe, into the dirty waters of the ruling party.

However, late on Thursday, senior political sources loyal to Vice-President Joice Mujuru, 59, said the predicted purge would not take place because President Robert Mugabe, 90, was worried that it would split Zanu-PF apart. – Independent Foreign Service

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