HARARE - A group of Zanu PF bigwigs have reportedly roped in some “spirit mediums and traditional healers” to determine President Robert Mugabe’s successor, in a development that confirms how superstitious the Zimbabwean society is.
The development is a throwback to the diesel n’anga (traditional doctor) debacle.
In addition to the Daily News’ visit yesterday to a Christon Bank shrine-cum-homestead where preparations for a massive Saturday traditional gathering were underway, authoritative government sources yesterday said a youthful Cabinet minister — with the help of war veterans — had roped in at least four spirit mediums and traditional healers for the controversial ceremony.
Although party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo and war veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda declined to comment on the issue on the grounds that they were not aware of the planned meeting, the story has betrayed the panic and fear gripping Mugabe’s Zanu PF ahead of the December elective congress as factionalism worsens.
“I have not been briefed on that,” Gumbo told this paper yesterday.
On the other hand, Sibanda said: “I don’t know about that and this is my first time to hear about it.”
“Of late, I have been at the farm and so I am not aware of that event,” he added.
However, an undercover Daily News crew to the Mazowe valley shrine-cum-homestead witnessed a full throttle procession in motion led by one Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Mutota from Guruve.
According to aides, a Nyanga “svikiro” also known as Tangwena was going to attend the ceremony and function as well, and with their strict brief being to look into who is fit to replace Mugabe and possibly discount a woman leader.
The aides confirmed that they had begun brewing traditional beer and everything was on course for Saturday’s highly-anticipated ceremony.
“We have just bought some firewood and we are about to start brewing beer,” said the aide, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“As you can see, we are thatching more huts because we expect a lot of people to come.”
Another aide said war veterans drawn from across Zimbabwe had been invited to help prepare for the ceremony.
“We have war veterans from as far as Gwanda, some have came from Uzumba, they are 30 in all and they have been assisting us,” the aide said.
“On Saturday, we expect a lot of war veterans to come here for the ceremony.”
The message of no woman for leadership is being touted as coming from Zimbabwe’s ancestors, and will be accompanied by an ominous warning that any attempt to defy the directive would portend chaos in the country.
With Zimbabwe gripped by a succession duel reportedly pitting Vice President Joice Mujuru and Justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, this bizarre story and development has added an intriguing twist to the Zanu PF succession wars.
Although many believe that the two are frontrunners, there are many rank outsiders hoping for a bite of the cherry and who have also stepped up their clandestine campaigns to take over the top job.
With hundreds of villagers and war veterans expected for the indaba, sources said it could also be a well-knitted plot stage-managed for the Press.
“Some people are desperate for power. People from the ... faction have gone to n’angas and told them that they should say that the spirit mediums have shown them that a woman will never rule this country,” said another source.
“This prophecy will be made on Saturday during a traditional ceremony that will be carried out by the traditional healers. We struggled to find out where the n’angas had been housed but one of the faction’s guys told us unwittingly and we now know it is at Mazowe, in one of the n’anga’s homestead,” he added.
They further claimed the traditional healers and mediums were promised Toyota Land Cruisers, and cash — an issue the Daily News could not independently verify by the time of going to press.
“The healers have been promised a lot of money and cars and this is shocking to say the least,” said the source.
“They are being bribed to say (VP Joice) Mujuru will never rule Zimbabwe. This is desperate politics by desperate politicians.
“But it is the year of the congress and we know that some will be so desperate to outwit others. But to go to n’angas is quite frankly bizarre and ridiculous.”
The gathering comes hardly five years after Mugabe personally chaired meetings to discuss claims by a 35-year-old n’anga Rotina Mavhunga that she could produce pure diesel out of rocks, and his government met her demands for two head of cattle and three buffaloes after falling for her outlandish story.
At that time, the president personally revealed how his government was duped by the diesel n’anga and released Z$5 billion, a car and piece of land in return for diesel from Maningwa Hills — outside Chinhoyi.
The “spirit medium”, also known as Nomatter Tagarira, convinced Zimbabwe government officials that she had been possessed by ancestral spirits who were keen to aid the nation’s battle with the fuel shortages.
The development also comes as Mnangagwa has announced that the Zanu PF presidium will be determined by a secret ballot in a move widely seen as a ploy to scupper Mujuru’s bid to hang on to her post at the congress.
After 34 years of Mugabe’s unbridled rule, the prospect of a new president is becoming all the more real, and the usually concealed power struggles within Zanu PF have exploded out into the open.