President Robert Mugabe has thrown his heir apparent, Emmerson Mnangagwa under the bus with the 93 year old leader rubbishing requests to install him as his successor.

Mugabe’s plans were revealed in the state media which states he will no longer handpick his successor despite the amended ZANU PF constitution granting him full powers of appointment.

Mugabe now claims that “Zanu-PF’s constitution provides for that matter and that the people of Zimbabwe will determine who they want to lead them.”

The development is set to see Mugabe tactfully appoint either his wife or a proxy instead of Mnangagwa who has been the President’s closest confidant 40 years running, since 1977.

Last year in July the largest group of war veterans gathered in Harare where they ordered Mugabe to hand over to Mnangagwa. Another meeting of the liberation fighters is slated for this week and has seen the police being used by Mugabe to block it.

To counter that meeting, Mugabe’s Minister in charge of war vets, Rtd Col Dube now says Mugabe has promised to meet them. “We have issues that affect war veterans from all parts of the country, all over. We even have some provincial ministers who seem to have some attitude against war veterans, instead of helping them . . . “When the war veterans’ organisation was formed, the President gave a directive that 20 percent of the land must be given to war veterans and quite a number of war veterans got land.

“Now more people want land and they cannot find it. They are beginning to stretch their hands to the land which was given to the war veterans, but the President is not happy at all with this issue of getting land which has been offered to war veterans.”

Mugabe has also coerced the war vets to a special meeting while promising that their welfare are a priority.