Last Updated: Saturday, 26 July 2003 ; herald Mugabe Succession: Mahofa lashes out
By Lovemore Mataire
THE Deputy Minister of Youth Development, Gender and Employment
Creation, Cde Shuvai Mahofa, believes that people harbouring presidential
ambitions should declare their interest in running for the office.
Delivering a broadside against some of her Zanu-PF colleagues whom she
accused of dangerous political ambitions that are threatening to divide the
party along tribal lines, Cde Mahofa said the succession issue should be
tabled before the Politburo where presidential aspirants should make their
ambitions known.
The Politburo, which is the party's supreme decision making body, should
then draw the criteria and qualifications for one to be eligible for the
presidency, said Cde Mahofa, who is also the Member of Parliament for
Gutu South.
Popularly known as the "Iron Lady" of Gutu, Cde Mahofa accused senior
party officials of clandestinely de-campaigning President Mugabe and
Vice-Presidents Muzenda and Msika thereby dividing the party into several
factions.
She claimed she was approached by some senior ruling party officials who
told her that they had taken it upon themselves to scout for possible
successors to President Mugabe because very few people were courageous
enough to do so.
"I was shocked to realise that some people were already canvassing
support for certain individuals. But in that process they were also saying
very bad things about President Mugabe and the two Vice-Presidents," said
Cde Mahofa.
She said the proper way of dealing with succession was for the matter to be
discussed at the Politburo and later to the provinces, going down to the
districts and the lower echelons of the party.
Cde Mahofa said ordinary party supporters should have the final say. "So I
told those who approached me that I would be comfortable with a situation
where the ordinary supporters of the party decide on their future leaders."
She said a private committee to scout for possible successors to President
Mugabe was already in existence but said she was not aware how it came
into being.
Cde Mahofa said that since the matter had not been discussed at any of the
organs of the party, it was important that the issue be clarified so people
were aware whether the committee was properly constituted to carry out the
exercise.
Instead of consulting people, she said the committee was in fact fanning
divisions along tribal lines.
"The language that is being used by some of the members of this
committee in soliciting support for their covert operations is frightening.
Some are openly denouncing the President while embracing the opposition
MDC," Cde Mahofa said.
She said it was not proper for party members to start dividing themselves
into factions when the country faced several economic problems that had to
be addressed.
"I am facing problems at work because I'm seen as belonging to a certain
faction while other junior employees have also been victimised. This is
completely undesirable and is being done by people who are just power
hungry and do not have the interest of the party at heart."
The tough-talking veteran politician said as someone who worked with the
party even during the liberation struggle, she would always stand by the
truth and would not fear to express her views on certain issues.
She said the people leading the so-called committee on succession did not
want to consult ordinary members of the party because they knew they
would be rebuffed.
Cde Mahofa said when President Mugabe said the succession issue should
be discussed he did not mean that party members should go about
denouncing the presidency.
"We are setting a very bad precedence. This is not the way revolutionaries
should behave. Are we supposed to be playing hide and seek with those
who should lead us?" she asked.
She said it was surprising that some people were talking about succeeding
President Mugabe as if he was leaving office tomorrow.
Cde Mahofa was convinced people in her constituency would not agree with
anyone advocating the immediate exit of President Mugabe.
Expressing her views on whether a government of national unity with the
MDC was desirable, Cde Mahofa said she was against the idea.
She said there was no basis for such a government because most of the
people in the MDC were former Rhodesian sympathisers and Selous Scouts
who participated in the maiming of black people during the liberation
struggle.
"Personally, a government of national unity is out of the question. Why
should we have a government of national unity? I think it�s good to have
opposition political parties that make the Government accountable. After all
there is nothing common between us and the MDC," she said.
Turning to women representation in top political positions, Cde Mahofa said
capable women in the party should not hesitate to aspire for the
vice-presidency. She, however, said that women representation in positions
of leadership should not just be based on affirmative action but on merit.
A nurse by profession Cde Mahofa was born in Chivi and grew up under the
repressive colonial regimes.
She said she became conscious of the inequalities that existed between
blacks and the minority whites at an early age.
It was that consciousness that later inspired her to actively participate in the
liberation struggle when she became a liberation war collaborator assisting
liberation fighters with logistics, passing on information and various other
essential duties.
After independence, Cde Mahofa held several public posts and served as a
deputy minister for various ministries.
She is one of the most powerful women politicians in Zimbabwe and has
been a legislator for more than a decade.
Cde Mahofa broke her silence over her relationship with Major Mike
Madombwe saying her foes were bent on exploiting the relationship to score
political goals.
Cde Mahofa, who was in the company of Major Madombwe when The Herald
interviewed her, said she was free to be involved in a relationship.
She confirmed that she was involved in a relationship with Major Madombwe
but that the relationship was outside her public office.
"What is so special about my private life? Who said I should just
concentrate on politics and not have my own private life? Am I not a woman
just like any other woman?" she asked.
Cde Mahofa said she was not the only public figure with a male friend and
that her situation was nothing out of the ordinary as she was not married.
She said her political enemies were always following her private life to
destroy her politically.
"I have been through a lot and all efforts to destroy me have failed."
She said she was the only MP in the country who had a referendum held in
her constituency to decide her suitability to continue as a legislator.
This was after some party members felt that she could not continue being
an MP because of her love relationships.
Cde Mahofa's first husband died in 1973 and she later got married to Mr
Custon Taderera who is also now late.
Mitayo Potosi
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