HARARE – Firebrand opposition politician and former MP Job Sikhala has rallied opposition forces to take advantage of the festering fall-out between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s factions to stoke up further tensions within Zanu PF.

He argues that the state and Zanu PF have been at the fore front of fanning divisions within MDC in what led to multiple splinter groups emerging from Zimbabwe’s first ever opposition to give the ruling party a run for its money in a poll.

Zanu PF stares schismatic factional wars since the 2017 fissures that saw the military backed Mnangagwa faction seize control and overthrowing then President Robert Mugabe and replacing him with the once fierce detector’s former deputy.

Since then, Zanu PF has managed to camouflage its factional differences.

But a recent bid by Mnangagwa, through proxies, to extend his term of office beyond the two-term limit prescribed by the constitution has stirred up a hornet’s nest with a section led by war veterans openly declaring the incumbent’s unpopular bid to stay on will be blocked by all means.

The tensions between the two powerful factions with military backing is feared by observers to be a national security threat, moreso, given past events of the occurrence of a coup in the country and the hitherto unresolved bombing mystery at a Zanu PF campaign star rally in Bulawayo 2018 when Mnangagwa and Chiwenga missed death.

Outspoken cleric and World Council of Churches programmes director Reverend Kenneth Mtata, in a recent article, warned that “Zanu PF’s internal succession challenges are not just party issues; they are national issues”.

“How succession is handled impacts democratic governance, national unity, civil-military relations, and the quality of leadership in Zimbabwe as a whole,” Mtata said.

But Sikhala, arguably the most combative opposition politician since the birth of MDC, sees a way of profiting from the current Zanu PF chaos.

“,,, Zanu PF has been an active participant in the factional fights in the opposition since time immemorial. They abetted, funded, encouraged, and actively participated in the opposition, tearing each other apart. They use the state apparatus such as the CIO and others to actively steer confusion. We saw the active involvement of the state apparatus in the seizure of Harvest House.

“Do they think I am happy to have come out of their jail to find out the CCC party seized and torn apart.

“If the opportunity arises to contribute to the confusion in the house of the ZANU PF devils, don’t wait. Seize the opportunity for the revenge mission. Actively fan the confusion. Steer the fight until the evil party has completely got obliterated from the face of the earth!!!” Sikhala posted on his X handle.

MDC has split into multiple factions since formation in 1999.

The split cost the opposition what could have been a sensational poll victory in 2008 when the then Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara led formations polled a combined 109 of 210 seats against Mugabe’s Zanu PF which won 97. Tsvangirai won 47.9% of Presidential vote and Mugabe 43.2% with Mutambara taking the rest, in a poll that could have seen Zanu PF jettisoned from power.

The splits continue up to date even after the stronger faction of MDC has transformed into the now christened Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).

Sikhala sees a Zanu PF hand in all the splits and calls on his opposition allies to pay the enemy with its own coin.