Zimbabwe: Joyce Mujuru expelled from Robert Mugabe’s ruling party

Zimbabwe’s ex-VP Joyce Mujuru has been expelled from President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party, Zanu-PF.

Zanu-PF said Joyce Mujuru had plotted to remove Robert Mugabe from office and brought the party into disrepute.

Joyce Mujuru had been seen as a likely successor to Robert Mugabe but was sacked at the end of last year.

She was accused of corruption and plotting to kill the president – allegations she denied.

Robert Mugabe, 91, will have been in power for 35 years when Zimbabwe marks its independence from the UK later this month.

The first lady, Grace Mugabe – who is now a senior figure in the Zanu-PF Party – has been very vocal against Joyce Mujuru in public.

Joyce Mujuru fought alongside Robert Mugabe in the 1970s guerrilla war against white minority rule and was known as “Spill Blood”.

Zanu-PF spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo said in a statement that the ruling party’s top decision-makers had agreed to Joyce Mujuru’s dismissal citing 10 reasons.

These included plotting to remove Robert Mugabe from office, alleged corruption and bringing the party into disrepute – charges she has previously denied.

“The politburo felt that she lacked the quality of strong moral principles, honesty and decency and therefore ceases to be a member of Zanu-PF,” Khaya Moyo said.

Roebrt Mugabe has not publicly indicated a preferred candidate to take over his presidency.

However, in December 2014, Robert Mugabe purged the government of several ministers, including Joyce Mujuru, and appointed Emmerson Mnangagwa as his deputy, making the former justice minister the favorite to succeed him.

Didymus Mutasa, one of the sacked ministers and a former confidante of Robert Mugabe, was expelled from Zanu-PF earlier this year.

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