Finance Minister Tendai Biti has said the ongoing succession debate in Zanu PF should be resolved urgently as it has potential to affect Zimbabwe’s development negatively.

The two factions, one led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the  Defence Minister and other one  led by former army commander, retired army commander general Solomon Mujuru have been at loggerheads for a longtime over who should  succeed President Robert Mugabe as leader of Zanu-PF and head of state.

Zanu-PF infighting has reportedly been escalating steadily worse since the party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence, to the MDC last year.

Addressing businesspeople in Bulawayo on Thursday at a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) organized meeting, Biti said the succession debate   in Zanu-PF must be resolved urgently as it can lead to a military coup.

“Succession debate in Zanu-PF should be resolved urgently as it will affect     this country. It’s not a secret that there is chaos in Zanu-PF about succession.  This might lead to a military coup, we don’t want a coup in this country like what happened in Somalia and Ivory Coast when they failed to replace leadership  in time,” said Biti.

“We hope the unfortunate death of Vice President Joseph Msika won’t   worsen the succession debate in that party,” he added.

In May Zanu-PF set up a committee which will deal with the succession issue.

The leadership committee led by Zanu-PF national chairman, John Nkomo was set to look into the procedure to be followed when dealing with the succession topic to preserve the delicate unity within the party, among other concerns.

Political  analysts said the committees was chosen specifically to pacify a possible revolt at the Women’s League congress  this  month, where Oppah Muchinguri and Shuvai Mahofa are reportedly baying for Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s blood over her role in the election of the leader of the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus.

The Vice-President was said to have joined hands in Parliament with the main Movement for Democratic Change vice president Thokozani Khupe to garner support for ZANU-PF’s Goromonzi legislator Biata Beatrice Nyamupinga against her colleague and senator for Chimanimani Monica Mutsvangwa.

Nyamupinga emerged victorious in the poll despite suffering a defeat in the party’s primary elections.

Before the March  2008  polls, divisions were brought about by the party’s primaries that saw disgruntled Zanu-PF members standing as independent candidates on a parallel party ticket.

Biti also said the failure to implement the Global Political Agreement was affecting the country’s economic recovery.

“We agreed that there should be rule of law and media freedom, among others   but those issues are still being violated. We hope the SADC summit to be held in Kinshasa in the near future will resolve these issues,” he said

(Source)