![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Julius-Malema.jpg\" "\\"Julius")
<\/a>The controversial ex-ANC Youth leader<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
Malema enjoyed close ties with Zanu PF before his fall, while Zuma has had an uneasy relationship with Mugabe and Zanu PF because of his push for democratic reforms before the next election is held.<\/p>\n
In statements likely to further complicate relations between Harare and Pretoria, Sikhosana and Kasukuwere said while Zanu PF respected the decision by South African ruling ANC party to expel \u201ccomrade Julius Malema\u201d, the Zimbabweans will stand by the fallen leader.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Zanu PF youth league questioned the moral authority of Zuma who is the Sadc appointed mediator to the Zimbabwe\u2019s crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel that the position that Julius took is the right decision and we support that position. Julius remains a comrade of Zanu PF,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cComrade Zuma has some questionable credentials but we will not get into that because that is another issue all together. When we speak here, we speak not as the government but as Zanu PF and especially the youth league,\u201d said Kasukuwere, a younger brother to controversial indigenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere.<\/p>\n
Malema, who has been vocal on the need to dismantle white control of South Africa\u2019s economy, was sacked for criticising Zuma.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat system that is there in South Africa has Boers still running the country and that is exactly what Julius Malema is talking about. That political freedom is nothing if it is not complimented by economic freedom,\u201d said Kasukuwere.<\/p>\n
Kasukuwere said whites were still running South Africa, giving the example of Tuesday\u2019s judgment by a South African High Court judge ordering South African authorities to probe Zimbabwean officials implicated in human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no way we can abandon a comrade because his party has found him guilty of speaking against imperialism. Actually this means that those who are charging him are imperialists themselves,\u201d said Kasukuwere.<\/p>\n
The statements resonate with Mugabe\u2019s apparent hostility towards Zuma, who was appointed by Sadc to mediate between foes Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to ensure a credible fresh election.<\/p>\n
Mugabe has in the past made it clear that his party can do without Zuma as mediator after the South African president assumed a hard-line stance against the former ruling party which was forced into a coalition with Tsvangirai\u2019s MDC following disputed elections in 2008.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Mugabe went on an offensive against Zuma and expressed dismay that he agreed to the invasion of Libya by Western forces to topple dictator Muammar Gaddafi.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Africa of today is full of cowards…The leaders are weak and naive,\u201d said Mugabe in the local Shona language.<\/p>\n
The youth league members slammed party members fighting to replace Mugabe, saying the veteran leader should be replaced only after his death.<\/p>\n
Sikhosana said the party had decided that Mugabe will remain Zanu PF candidate until God chose otherwise.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is taboo to discuss the succession of President Mugabe. It is up to the Almighty to say when he may not be with us. To suggest that we may start to explore new leaders is out of the question,\u201d said Sikhosana.<\/p>\n
Zanu PF has now been fractured into several factions which are also divided into sub-structures as infighting over Mugabe\u2019s succession threatens Zanu PF.<\/p>\n
Mugabe himself has admitted that Zanu PF is riddled with factions, saying the party will crumble if he left the scene to allow a younger generation to take over.<\/p>\n
Despite being 88, Mugabe has refused to step down or groom a successor.<\/p>\n
Among top Zanu PF officials who have been fingered as eyeing the presidency is Vice President Joice Mujuru, Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and defence forces commander Constantine Chiwenga.<\/p>\n
Sikhosana said \u201cpretenders\u201d could \u201cdream on\u201d about taking over Mugabe\u2019s Zanu PF throne.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hear about a lot of things. People talking about so and so jogging to be president of Zimbabwe. We want to put that to rest. People should not tempt beyond our ability to restrain ourselves. We know of only one candidate for the presidency of the party and government and that is comrade Mugabe. He is the sole candidate,\u201d said Sikhosana, a 60-year-old grandfather still running youth affairs in Zanu PF.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some of President Robert Mugabe\u2019s closest officials have attacked South African president and mediator to Zimbabwe\u2019s political crisis Jacob Zuma, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1853,2218,258,382,2212,396],"class_list":["post-10265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-2","tag-jacob-zuma","tag-julius-malema","tag-malawi","tag-zambia","tag-zanu-pf","tag-zimbabwe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}