Zimbabwe Ruling Party Moves to Include a Woman in Top Body

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe’s ruling party will probably amend its constitution to ensure that a woman is appointed to its top body, which currently has three men, according to a draft document sent to senior members of the party by its secretary for administration, Ignatius Chombo.

The move may pave the way for President Robert Mugabe’s wife Grace to join the Presidium at a party congress in December, according to University of Zimbabwe professor Eldred Masunungure. “Congress will simply confirm what Mugabe and his acolytes have already decided,” he said by phone. “If they want Grace in the Presidium, that’s what will happen.”

Simon Khaya Moyo, a spokesman for the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, confirmed that the document had been sent to senior party members. Chombo said he couldn’t discuss the matter because he’s attending a meeting in Dubai.

Grace Mugabe, 52, is head of Zanu-PF’s Women’s League and the leader of the party’s so-called Generation-40 faction that opposes Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa as a possible successor to her husband. President Mugabe, 93, has ruled the southern African nation since the end of white-minority rule and independence from the U.K. in 1980 and is the party’s candidate for elections next year.

Mnangagwa has suffered setbacks in recent weeks, including losing his position as justice minister in a cabinet reshuffle.

Khaya Moyo said he’d heard no complaints about the proposal to add a woman to the Presidium, which currently comprises Mugabe, Mnangagwa and Zimbabwe’s other vice president, Phelekezela Mphoko.

”Still, the issue can only discussed at our congress,” he said in a telephone interview from the capital, Harare. “First, the Central Committee and then the Politburo will debate. It’s not for discussion right now.”

Source: Bloomberg Business News