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By Staff
Reporter
RETIRED army general Solomon Mujuru plans to launch a daily newspaper
to prop-up his wife's faltering Presidential ambitions, New Zimbabwe.com
can reveal.
Vice President Joice Mujuru, the ex-general's wife, is determined to fight for Zanu PF's leadership and his supporters see the newspaper project as the best way to get her message across, sources said.
General Mujuru has put former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) journalist Musekiwa Khumbula to recruit a capable team of journalists for the planned newspaper, which sources say will be called The Express.
Khumbula is a corporate affairs consultant for Innscor Africa, whose chairman is Ray Kaukonde, a Mujuru loyalist and governor for Mashonaland East province. Mashonaland East was one of two provinces, with Harare, which refused to back President Mugabe's plan to extend his term by two years when it expires in 2008.
Kaukonde is one of the leaders of the 'Stop-Mugabe-Campaign', which Mujuru's loyalists called the 'Look East' policy at last year's annual Zanu PF conference, the term being a bastardisation of Mugabe's 'Look East' policy which promotes trade with Asian countries.
It is thought Kaukonde will be the new chairman of the newspaper project. Last night, a woman who answered his mobile phone said he would only be available to make a comment later Tuesday.
The Express,
according to sources, has been licenced by the Media and
Information Commission (MIC), although no confirmation could be obtained
from the media watchdog last night.
But reliable sources close to the project told New Zimbabwe.com that the bulk of staff from the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror -- which have failed to publish for two weeks due to financial problems -- will move to the paper which is scheduled to hit the streets in April or May.
an obscure post of Special Projects editor, is tipped to head the new paper's editorial team.
Ex-Daily Mirror assistant editor, Brian Mangwende, and former news editor, Constantine Chimakure, are also ear-marked for top posts.
A source revealed Monday: "Everything points to the launch of the paper sometime in April. The latest would be May. [Tafataona] Mahoso (MIC chairman) has already issued a licence to the owners of the paper."
It is believed
General Mujuru will use the paper to put back on track his wife's
Presidential ambitions which have taken a serious knock in recent weeks.
A front runner to succeed Mugabe at the start of the year, Joice Mujuru's plans have been scuttled by the veteran leader who on February 20 lambasted her for allegedly trying to diminish his liberation war legacy by colluding with independence war hero, Edgar Tekere, who published his autobiography last month.
Tekere portrayed Mugabe as a reluctant leader in his autobiography, A Lifetime of Struggle.
In an interview with state television on the eve of his 83rd birthday, Mugabe paid glowing tribute to another presidential front runner, Emerson Mnangagwa, for his dedication to the 1970's guerilla war against Zimbabwe's white minority regime. Observers interpreted this as evidence that Mugabe's preferences for his successor were changing.
Mugabe's stinging rebuke angered the Mujuru faction, which has threatened to fight back with a vengeance. Mujuru was so upset by Mugabe’s remarks that she contemplated resigning but her husband stopped her as he wants to "fight it out", reports the privately-owned Zimbabwe Independent.
The paper adds that the mood in the Mujuru camp is one of defiance, even though insiders say they failed to confront Mugabe at last week’s politburo meeting.
Sources say Mujuru and his wife will have no problems bankrolling the new project after they both amassed personal fortunes from the sale of precious minerals -- amid allegations of illegality -- and vast farming interests around the country.
But eyebrows would
be raised at the MIC's decision to grant the Zanu PF officials a publishing
licence which has been denied to the banned Daily News and
its sister paper, The Daily News on Sunday. Two other privately-owned
weeklies, The Tribune and The Weekly Times were also
banned, media campaigners say because they criticised President Mugabe.
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