Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF has fired 11 members of parliament allied to Robert Mugabe and his wife.
Current president, Emerson Mnangagwa has spoken out against retribution, but local media are reporting that the ZANU-PF restructuring process is specifically targeting those who publicly back the Mugabe couple.
Mr. Mnangagwa came to power in November after 93-year-old Mugabe was forced to resign following a de facto military coup. That same month, five of Mugabe’s top allies were fired.
According to a transcript of parliament procedures from Thursday, deputy speaker of parliament Mabel Chinomona said ZANU-PF had notified the house of assembly that the 11 fired members no longer represented party interests.
Many of Mugabe’s political allies were either arrested by the military in a series of spectacular raids in the early hours of November 15 or fled to neighbouring countries.
In private, Mnangagwa’s allies worry that some of Mugabe’s supporters could regroup and campaign against the new president in elections that will be held in four to five months.
